


Sympathetic Synergy

by seventhTense



Category: Hunter X Hunter, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon, Basically HxH but older and with Pokemon, Fluff, Follows similar arcs as HxH canon but not exactly, Humor, I mean Killua's 19 what do you expect, Killua POV to start but everyone gets their spot in the thoughtlight, Killua and Gon are both 19 for reasons both plot and not-plot, Killua has a Mareep named Narukami, Leorio and Kurapika and the others will get there soon dw, M/M, Masturbation, Mito is a fucking badass FIGHT ME, Slight dubcon at one point, Swearing, also this is way more hxh than pokemon if that wasn't blatantly apparent already, apologies to anyone who clicked over here expecting ash/satoshi mastering his nen powers, dont imagine drew carey saying that, or james in hisoka's outfit, sort of, tonight on Everybody Loves Gon (except Gon), who's a top who's a bottom LETS FIND OUT ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:46:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5396450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seventhTense/pseuds/seventhTense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even before they first meet, Gon and Killua share a bond. They both share the same dream, both have been forced to put that dream on hold for the sake of the ones they love, both possessed by an insatiable thirst to connect with the world around them, spread their roots, grow stronger for the challenges they face and the scars they collect along the way. </p><p>After they first meet, incredible, pants-tightening thirst gets added to that mix, somewhere in there. In large, bold letters. In neon. Not that Neon.</p><p>Anyways.</p><p>With their partners, friends, loved ones, and as always, each other at their side, the two depart into a new, exciting, dangerous world. What they encounter may not be exactly what they were expecting to find, per se, but one way or another, by hell or high water, these two boys will battle their way through this world until they are, by no uncertain terms, the very best. Like no one ever was.</p><p>AKA, Hunter x Hunter, the Pokemon version. Hooooooooooo boi</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Instant Crush

The day that they first met, Killua had been bored out of his fuuuuuuuuuuuuuucking mind.

Twelve days ago, he had bought passage aboard some ancient, barely-held-together-with-sailor-spunk-and-glue fishing liner that nobody would ever remember the name of, (which was the point, of course) and embarked on a circuitous, multi-stop trip to Zaban City. Eight days ago, he had finally managed to shut up the resident sailors and earn himself some peace and quiet on the voyage, all thanks to a brief, fun little encounter on the ship’s deck one morning.

_Snickering behind them. Great. “Yo, don’t look, but here comes Richie Bitch again.”_

_“Oh fuck, holy shit look at the shit he’s wearing,” Did these morons honestly think that what they were doing counted as whispering? “Did Captain open up a bdsm club below-deck when I wasn’t looking?”_

_“Bro, you’re missing the best part, look at who he’s got with him-”_

_“Fuck my ass, does that emo sonofabitch own a shitty little Mareep? Holy f-”_

_It took Killua all of a second to cross most of the ship’s main deck, less than a tenth of that time to close his hand around the sailor’s throat, the same again to haul him over the railing and hold him like that, dangling above the waves. He smiled, big and happy, perfect-white teeth gleaming like sun-bleached bone, eyes as colorful and vast and deadly as the sea below them._

_“Two pro tips, buddo,” He drawled, reveling in how his casual, vaguely cheerful demeanor did nothing but ratchet up the man’s terror even further. “One, if someone’s dressed like they just walked out of Whips, Chains and Leather Monthly, they can probably take your hemorrhoidal ass out faster than the Captain will when he finds that bottle of Scotch that you stole from his cabin. Number two,” and at this, Killua’s smile grew all the more shark-like, his free hand gesturing to the small, fluffy Pokemon behind them, who, true to her breed, merrily trotted over, hopped her forelegs onto the railing, and booped her snout onto the cuff of the offending sailor’s pant leg._

_Killua’s gaze drew like a knife back up to the sailor’s eyes. “Probably not the best idea to talk shit on an electric-type when you’re in the middle of the ocean, y’know?” Smelling something odd, Killua’s nose scrunched up, his eyes drawn back down to the Mareep by his side- oh, that is just precious. Catching onto the tone of the conversation, she had used a small zap of electricity to burn most of the sailor’s left pant leg off. Killua chuckled. “Or ever, I guess.”_

_His piece said, Killua tossed the man back onto the ship’s deck with a casual flick of his arm, then bent down to give his partner a loving pat, receiving a to-die-for-adorable nuzzle in return. The duo walked off, and were left a blissfully wide berth for the remainder of the trip._

It had taken Killua the following week to finally get bored of the scenery, the books he had packed along, his physical training, and tormenting the rest of the crewmen, so when he first heard that they were making a stop come sunrise, he had been ecstatic. The instant they made port, Killua had packed his belongings back into his bag not trusting the crew members for beans at this point, and made his way through the throng of departing sailors eager for shore time as fast as he could.

The ship was just making a stop for supplies and sleep for the crew at this obscure little fishing town, some island he hadn’t bothered to remember the name of, about another three days’ worth of travel from their destination on the mainland. The captain had said (through a mouthful of “Tha’ besht damn Iapapa cider n’ mush thish shide’a Mt. Furrrrrrrp, whoopsh, shorry there laddie, Mt. Fuckin’ Chimney!”) that they would only be staying until the next morning, but Killua was ready to take in everything there was to take in long before then, eager for new stimulus, new adventure, new fun!

It took him all of nine minutes to see all the village had to offer, and at present, Killua Zoldyck was piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed.

The town had the regular attractions found in every podunk village in the world; a bare-bones mart, a Center that was more of a local watering hole and haven for the drunks to sleep off their hangovers in peace then it was a place of healing. There were a couple of toy stores for the kids, (nothing that interested Killua remotely, outside of the candy that now filled his pockets and the remaining space in his bag) a couple of slightly better hidden toy stores for the adults, (containing several things that interested the freshly-legal Killua a great deal, but nothing that he could fit in his pockets now that they were stuffed with candy, UGH) and a loose smattering of houses that seemed to have their doors permanently glued open, security and common sense be damned.

Killua took in, observed, and summarially dismissed all of the above way faster (thanks, boredom) than he usually did, and was at present, about to lose his fucking gourd. He paced the streets of the town, chipped tan cobblestones clacking satisfyingly against the plastic wheels hidden inside the heels of his shoes, one hand sifting through the hoard in the pockets of his short-shorts, the other busy popping his latest find into the obnoxiously-loud chewing pit of his mouth.

He cultivated the image of a bored, careless teen extrememly carefully, Killua did, mostly so he wouldn’t be payed much attention to in the cities that were his typical haunt. But here too, the appearance of a gaudy, gross mainlander, as he overheard several times, served the teen well. The less people thought of you, the less they paid attention to you, or the less they gave a shit about what little they did pay attention to, which was just as good. That knowledge had been instilled in Killua (installed, really) for much more... unpleasant purposes, but right now he was simply taking advantage of it to listen to the chatter of the locals he strolled past, huddled around carts of skinned and soon-to-be-skinned fish, parked on benches, returning from or heading to the shops, passing along the local gossip to each other, and, inadvertently, to Killua’s sharp, sharp ears.

He spied on their day-to-day lives much as one would flip through television stations, or scroll from one post on the net down to the next.

 _“Catch is pretty good this year, eh?” “Thank Arceus and all his little goaty children it is, yeah, last summer we barely had enough to f-”_ Bzzt, boring. Next?

 _“-and he sneaks back into their house every night, as if poor Terry and the kids wouldn’t notice. What is that man thinking, running ar-”_ Heard that one before, yaaaaaawn.

 _“Uhm, excuse me, lllllllladies, I overheard you talking about the latest, hhhhhhottest video games to come out of Unova, and, uhm, no offense, but Ranger 2? Really? Do you even know anything about video games? C’mon, what’s the main character’s na-”_ Holy shit no thank you, moving rapidly along.

 _“Mmm, nice ripe melons for sale, cheap as they come-”_ Nope.

 _“Booooy, did you see what Helen was wearing last night in the Center-”_ Nope.

 _“Jerry, if I have to tell you one more time, no candy until you-”_ Neuope.

 _“Liza, please, give me one more ch-”_ Nope...

 _“The sea air is so fresh today, man-”_ Nope.....

 _“Not as cheap as your melons, Helen, but-”_ NOPE........

_“So, you think today’s the day she’ll finally let Gon sign up for the league?”_

Whoa, hold up a second now. Killua glanced briefly, inconspicuously around to find the location of that last conversation- two wrinkled old men huddled over their tea at some cafe he was walking past, talking more animatedly that old men should be able to- and he veered slowly off of the main street, pretending ever-so-subtly to tie his shoes a handful of meters away. Someone else on their way to sign up, huh?

“Hmm, I wonder. She did say that she wouldn’t let him go until the kid proved he could make it out there, and that Mito has some pretty harsh standards, I’ll tell you that right now,” the more bearded one growled out.

“Yeah, but Gon’s no kid anymore, ‘Tash, boy’s all of 19 and shows it!” The other one, Wrinkles, Killua had decided to call him, frowned a bit at that, shrugged. “A bit late for someone to start up in the league, sure, but I’d bet a thousand he could handle himself better than most of the punks out there.”

Beardles laughed at that, an unkind, barking thing. “Yeah, but that ain’t the point, huh? Poor boy’s been trying to convince her to let him start ever since he was twelve, tryin’ to take after his father, and damned if Mito couldn’t tell that when he asked. Been makin’ whatever excuse she could to keep the lad here ever since, too young, too weak, not this or that enough, it’s pathetic! Died down a little a couple years back when his Nan passed, bless her, but now that Mito’s back on her feet, its like the saddest broken record you ever damn heard. Every couple of months when he gets up the courage to ask her again, there she goes, squashin’ his ambitions back down so he doesn’t ‘become like his deadbeat loser old man-’ as if a kid like Gon would ever be as cold as that shithead!”

“But didn’t you hear? Joy up at the center told me the kid’s old lady had agreed to terms last month! Said if Gon could best his old man’s record out at the lake in three weeks time, she’d let him go!” Killua, his mouth having been set in a hard, severe, empathetic frown at the tale of another bound-up-by-his-family kid, looked up towards the forest that stretched behind the village, covering the rest of the island.

“No shit, really?”

“Mmmhm, boy’s been training to grind that record into the dust ever since,” Wrinkles exclaimed, spit spattering noisly all over the table in front of him, and probably into both of their teas. Gross. “And ‘cording to Joy, today’s the last day of their deal. Said that if he does it, Mito’ll buy him passage on that shitty boat out by the harbor, and that’s that.”

“Well I’ll be damned... gonna be a challenge, that’s for sure, ever since Ging left, nobody’s even come close to catching th-”

But Killua was already off, jogging briskly down the street and out, past the edge of the town, into the trees and greenery beyond, eager to catch a glimpse of this fabled Gon.

Well, okay, not fabled per se, but it was one of the first times in his sheltered life that Killua had heard of someone who’s situation and interests seemed to be so closely in line with his own, not to mention the first opportunity he’d had to actually meet them safely. Instinctively, he patted the Pokeball bouncing as he ran in its holder on his belt, squeezed it tightly. _This might be the one, Naru..._

Killua Zoldyck glanced up at the bright blue sky, visible in patches and flashes between the canopy of leaves above, his mind on a promise he might be close to finally living up to, his eyes bright and, for the first time in a long, long, long-ass time, full of hope. _This kid might be my first friend._

It took him less than a second for his face to be fully covered in a deep red blush, and he let go of the Pokeball, whapped his head on the side a couple of times. Why did his internal monologue have to be so damn embarrassing sometimes?!!?!

Eyes sharp for a sign of any kind of lake nearby, Killua dashed through the trees and brush, excitement still bubbling in his heart.

 

\---

 

It took him the better part of an hour to find it; a huge, gorgeous lake, nestled at the base of a mountain a good kilometer or so from the town. Killua came slowly to a stop from his jog at the western edge of the lake, caught his breath as he looked around for any sign of this Gon kid.

He had to admit though, focused as he was on finding his mark, Killua had a pretty tough time tearing his eyes away from the beauty of the lake spreading out at his feet. It was pretty damn big for an island this size, almost a kilometer across at the longest point itself, and the most gorgeous shade of blue Killua had ever seen, the color people had always said his eyes had been as a baby. At the edge closest to him, he could see almost all the way to the bottom of the lake bed, Magikarp and Barbaroach milling about and nibbling on the grass and moss coating the shallow end. From what the locals had said, Killua imagined that the lake would have to be extremely deep the farther in you went, if it were to hold water-types large enough to be a significant challenge to catch.

Besides the lake itself, there were a couple bits of flora that caught Killua’s eye as well. A huge amount of berry bushes and short, young trees sat in a tight cluster on the opposite end of the lake’s shore, and, more importantly, a mind-bogglingly huge tree stood tall and proud a ways away from the berries, towering overhead in the most literal sense of the word Killua had ever applied to something that wasn’t, you know, an actual man-made tower.

And most beautiful of all, to Killua’s eye, at least, was the plethora of Pokemon all around him, Pokemon of all shapes, types and sizes; Stantler and Girafarig grazing near the berry patch, Krabby and Buziel and Surskit in a casual three-way battle for territory by the water’s edge, bird Pokemon of all kinds soaring high above, fluttering amongst the branches of the great tree nearby. More Pokemon than Killua had ever seen in one place before- excluding that uncomfortable half-stakeout, half “family-vacation” to the enclosed, sterile cages of the Yorknew Pokezoo his parents had taken him on as a child. To see them all so free and... and happy, more or less, touched a part of Killua’s heart that he’d had to hide for the longest time, warmth blossoming in his chest in the most wonderful way. Even if he didn’t manage to find this Gon kid, which he totally would, but even if he didn’t, seeing all of the Pokemon like this made this pit stop worth the price of the boat fare three times over again to him.

He shook his head, clearing it of the wonder and embarrassing, simpleminded happiness for the moment. He could stare at Pokemon all he wanted later, shit, if he got things right he could do so for the rest of his fucking life, for now he was on a schedule, a strict timer to find this kid, this Gon before he left, either in defeat or with his mysterious prize.

Killua’s gaze darted around the lake in front of him, taking in the details again, then sifting through them this time with a rapid-fire, highly-trained investigative comb. Nobody on any side of the Lake’s shores, alright, fine, no problem, it wasn’t as if somebody as dedicated and focused as his Gon obviously was would take on his challenge with simple shoreside fly fishing, duh. (He studiously ignored his inner-monologue’s suspect use of the word his there, nope, not gonna touch that with a 27-and-a-half-foot Honedge).

Alright, next up, the lake’s surface itself. Was Gon in a boat, some small, subtle raft of a thing that would have escaped Killua’s gaze earlier? Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoh shit wait was that- nope, no, just a Stunfisk or some shit. Wow, not on the lake itself either, holy shit. Okay, well, what the fuck now? Was he underwater? Was that why this test was so damn difficult, because you had to battle some bigass, monster-dicked Pokemon underwater? Killua’s eyes zapped to and fro across the lake again, this time searching for any sign of suspect activity under the surface, any mass of bubbles, weird splashing, shit like that. But it was a futile effort- there was a lot of activity of that sort, sure, but it could just as easily be two freaking Finneon face-fucking a Feraligator for all Killua knew and he wouldn’t be able to tell the goddam difference for peas!

He ran a hand through his hair, a wild, panicked light in his eyes, something in the very back of his head murmuring that, probably thanks to the sugar he inhaled earlier and the thirst he already had for this kid that was blindingly obvious to anyone that looked at Killua right now, he miiiiiiight just be over-reacting just a touch, just a little teeny scosh. Killua paid no attention to the voice behind the curtain, however, and kept right on flipping the hell out. Where was he?!?!? Fuck!!!!

But then- _shit, thank you Illu-nii, this is the one and only fucking time in my life I’ll thank you for balls but thank you right from the depths of my shitty little heart, straight to your incestuous freaky little cat-dick for showing me how to pick up on shit like this_ \- oh, but then. As Killua’s eyes skated over the lake’s surface one last, desperate time, he caught something shimmering in the sun, a tiny, near-invisible glint of light reflecting off of someth- fishing line! Had to be a fishing line, fuck yes, okay, follow it up to the source Killua, c’mon, the sunlight was at that angle, so if you follow it up this way, then...

And there he was. Boy oh boy, there he was.

Straddling a thick branch high up the great tree across from him, huddled under a carefully-arranged pile of leaves, sticks, and what Killua thought to be a weird, leafy witch’s hat, looking for all the world like a Burmy cosplayer at a Pokemaniac convention, fishing rod in hand and the most focused, intense, _determined_ look on his face that Killua had ever been blessed enough to see, sat what had to be Gon, boy of the fucking hour.

Damn. Daaaaaaaaaaaamn. Killua didn’t even try to bite back the heat of the blush that was spreading on his cheeks and neck, didn’t even try to shake it off or quip back at the embarrassing wolf-whistle echoing through his head.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.

Wow.

It was hard to see the details from where he was- even with Killua’s sharper-than-a-razor-leaf (sharper than Illumi’s spiky cat dick) eyesight, the dude was on one of the highest branches of one of the tallest trees in the fucking world, on the opposite end of a kilometer-long lake from where Killua stood, there was only so much a man could do. But from what Killua could make out, the dude was ripped. Not in the freakish, bulbous, body-builder kind of way, this Gon dude wouldn’t be mistaken for a Machamp anytime soon or anything like that. But even under the foliage that coated the man’s body, Killua could see the result of however many years Gon had been training for this day. He was tall, too, his near-perfect posture showing off the languid way his neck, shoulders, arms and torso seemed to fall gently from each part above it, a waterfall given human form.

Killua shook his head fiercely at that. Hokay boy-o, this dude was hot, sure, but when his internal-monologue (not Killua himself, his internal monologue, there was a difference damn it) started referring to something as _a waterfall given human form_ it was time to take a step back, several slow, deep breaths, and a cold shower if he could get it, before he became a walking, talking, shitty little paperback romance novel for good. Fuck.

Having done as much of the aforementioned routine as he could manage, Killua returned his gaze to Gon, (Arceus be damned he hoped that was Gon,) not lustful or lewdly this time, but curious.

He was just... sitting there. Waiting. Watching. Okay, yeah of course he was, he was fishing for some great big ol’ test of a life time, _baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaka_ (really, internal monologue, with the bakas again? Milluki would be proud, little weeb). The real question was what was he watching and waiting for, huh?

Killua followed the hot hotbaby’s line of sight as best he could, tracing it to- wow, duh, his fishing line, GG Killu, nice work there. But as Killua returned his gaze to Gon once more, he found that had he waited just a few moments longer, he might not have come off (to himself) as such a total idiot. Gon’s entire demeanor had changed in the few instants Killua had looked away, his excited, determined expression shifteing into something fierce, hungry, his eyes zipping back and forth almost faster than Killua could follow. Killua, too, found himself gaining an almost twelve-year-old’s level of excitement just from watching, looked back down at the lake itself, trying to spot what Gon had seen-

It all changed in an instant. What had once been a serene, blissfully calm, painting-like lake broke into a frantic, frothed mess as something absolutely fucking _enormous_ breached the surface of the center of the lake, flying into the air above, spraying water wildly enough so that even Killua was splattered by some of it. His eyes flashed to Gon, who was now on his feet, a crazed grin beaming on his face, fishing rod held high in front of him, the line taunt and shining as his hand spun the reel faster than the eye could follow, faster than _Killua’s eyes_ could follow.

Entranced, Killua followed the twanging, straining length of the line back out- and quickly realized why this Mito person had chosen this as her impossible-to-complete challenge. At the other end of the line was a Gyrados, massive, larger than any Killua had even read about before, easily 30 meters long by itself, eyes bright with fury, its blue-and-tan fins shimmering in the sunlight, its tail thrashing mid-air, a bright metal hook and red bobber thingey hanging off its comically large lips.

No wonder Gon had to train into Mister Buffly B. Buffington in order to take on this shit, this was insanity! Was he supposed to capture that thing? Killua hadn’t seen any Pokemon near Gon- was just hooking it the goal? His eyes shot back to Gon, curious as to what would come next.

Gon, too, seemed a little confused, his fierce expression of just a few moments ago fading into confusion- presumably at why he found himself unable to reel in the Gyrados any further- then into light despair, as he realized the reason, Killua’s own understanding following on his heels.

 _Gyrados isn’t just a Water-type._ From the way the massive fishy monstrosity was hovering ominously in the air, twenty meters above the water’s surface, that was painfully clear. _He’s Flying-type too._

As the freakish flying fish was still wriggling and wailing into the id-morning sky, Killua glanced back towards Gon, feeling a hot trickle of sweat run down his back. What the fuck was he going to do now, send out some equally-buff Pokemon to take the fucker down? Do some bullshit magic trick to shrink the Gyrados into, say, a pocket-sized monster of some sort? Pull out a Master Ball?!?

Gon, true to form thus far, surprised Killua and did none of those things. Killua glanced back in time to see the last of Gon’s despair give way to that sun-bright grin again, see the man throw his head back in laughter as he set the fishing rod down gingerly at his feet, and, feeling a sharp, heavy rock being thrown into the murky depths of Killua’s stomach as he did so, saw him prepare to, then take, a fast, sprinting leap off the branch he had been seated on, launching himself bodily towards the Gyrados’ face at inhuman speeds.

Killua felt himself calling out Gon’s name, felt himself start to run along the Lake’s edge towards where the battle was taking place, felt himself release Naru to run along by his side in case aid was needed, but was conscious of doing none of those things, so deeply attuned to the display in front of him was Killua’s heart. Gon, for what it was worth, seemed as unafraid as could be, hurtling towards the beast eagerly, if anything, his hands outstretched to catch onto its face-crest as he neared its massive, blue-and-tan monstrosity of a face. It was agonizing, the mere seconds of Gon’s travel passing like decades-old syrup fell from a jar, like decades-old octogenarian fucked, like-

Killua’s brain had no more time for sass. In an instant, he caught the motion of the Gyrados’ eyes swiveling towards the rapidly incoming threat, saw the telltale flicker of light and energy gathering in the center of its gaping mouth as it readied what could only be an absurdly powerful Hyper Beam. He shouted Gon’s name again, consciously this time, felt his throat go raw with how loudly and fervently he screamed-

And, just in time, before he could order the Wool Pokemon at his side to Thunderbolt the everloving fish-shit out of the monster, Killua saw Gon’s gaze shift, molasses-slow in Killua’s diluted perception of the world, towards Killua himself. The other man mouthed something, and Killua couldn’t hear- hell, even if he hadn’t been too far away to, the blood and panic rushing through his ears would have been too loud to make out anything. But he could just barely make out what Gon was saying from the movement of the boy’s lips.

_Hah, don’t worry! I’ve got this!_

As a cherry on the cake, still in the space of a heartbeat, Gon threw Killua a cheeky thumbs up and a wink, then twisted back around just in time to latch onto the Gyrados’ trident-shaped cerulean-blue crest.

D-a-m-n.

The beast roared, even louder than before, Pokemon all around fleeing in sheer terror at the ferocity of the cry, Killua only noting with great relief that the monster’s scream had managed to inadvertently interrupt the charging of the Hyper Beam in it’s mouth. It would only be for a moment though, and Killua knew from his studies (and fascination with super-cool Pokemon like Gyrados as a kid) that Gon would not be safe from the beam’s soon-to-return incinerating fury, even dangling off of the creature’s face as he was. His eyes latched onto Gon, desperate for any sign of the kid’s plan, and saw him shift his body, swing around so that he had his feet latched onto the base of the Gyrados’ crest, hooked into the dip of the twin V’s splaying out to either side. Gon took a moment to look around, assessing his new position, hands gripping the shoots of the Gyrados’ crest like a kid standing on the gates of a candy factory.

Using the newfound support, Gon let go of the spiky blue stalk with one hand, reached down to dig into his pocket, pulled out a handful of something Killua couldn’t quite make out from where he stood. There were several of them, round, shiny-

Then, to the sound of Killua’s heart shuddering to a stop, Gon let go with his other hand too, and started to fall backwards. Killua felt himself start to screech out a cry again- stopped himself just in time as he saw Gon’s feet, still firmly in place on the Gyrados’ crest, shift slightly, catching and compensating for the change in position much like a Mankey’s or Slakoth’s would to hang upside-down from a tree branch. His worries weren’t completely allayed by this, though, as the point Gon was still swinging face-first towards happened to be directly in front of the Gyrados’ deadly,wide-open mouth!

The world stopped, moments not even passing by like some sort of ultra-sticky substance anymore, just giving up entirely on the whole endeavor, plopping down and letting an equally unhurried gravity roll them ever-so-slowly along. The Gyrados’ eyes followed Gon’s movements, became even more enraged, were that possible, and it’s face started to shift again, the muscles in its jaw flexing as it began summoning enough energy for a Hyper Beam. Gon raised his arm back behind his head, still upside-down, his fist clenched around what Killua guessed were the mysterious objects he had fished out of his pocket moments before.

With a roundabout sort of underhand throw, Gon tossed the whole handful into Gyrados’ awaiting mouth. Killua’s mind raced as he watched the cluster of objects fly through the air- what could they be? Bombs? Some sort of Paralyzing agent? Shoes? Like, really, really smelly shoes?

He had no idea. The objects, each one about the size of a thumb, disappeared inside the Gyrados’ gaping maw. A few deadweight moments passed as they presumably landed onto the beast’s massive, gross pink tongue, then-

Comically, as if he was watching a cartoon, all the rage, the fury, the murderous, destructive intent faded out of the Gyrados’ expression in a matter of milliseconds, replaced with first a blush, then a look that Killua could only, in his weirdest, kinkiest, vaguely-scaley-kink-centric dreams describe as the frekiest O-face anyone in the fucking world would ever be unlucky enough to witness.

Holy _fuck_.

What in the world had Killua Zoldyck just walked into here.

_**WOW.** _

 

\---

 

It took about a minute or so for Gon and his now-tamed Gyrados to hover back towards where Killua was waiting, now on the northern side of the lake shore. He spent that time staring listlessly up at Gon, who was now standing proudly back on top of the Gyrados’ head, arms crossed in front of the white tank top (more of a crop-top, really, Gon must love to show off his abs... to the fish... and the trees...) that was now clinging damply to his chest, laughing heartily as if he had just had the most fun of his entire life. Killua felt Naru trot over towards him, press her forehead into the hand dngling at his side- he scritched her gently, tried in vain to regain some semblance of dignity and control over his body. That had been.... just... fuck, man. Killua had seen some tense shit in his life, hell, his life had pretty much been tenseness-incarnate for most of his years on this planet. But as far as shit he actually felt he had life-or-death stakes in himself, this took the cake easily- hell, this took the whole goddam bakery and all the affiliate stores in a fifty-kilometer radius.

By the time the boy and his new fish friend reached the shore, Gon had finished his victorious guffaw, his face settled into one of the cheekiest grins Killua had ever seen. The man- the only-a-little-bit-taller-than-him man, Killua could now see, at least a quarter of a meter taller than Killua was- hopped down from the Gyrados’ head when he got within range of the fucking ground again, but kept a hand on the side of it’s face, which it nuzzled into as affectionately as Naru had into Killua’s moments before. How... cute? Not really, but it was the thought that counted, Killua guessed.

Gyrados floating along at his side, Gon walked cockily up towards Killua, his non-fish-containing hand busy scratching the back of his neck in a goofy sort of way that, honestly, at the same time happened to be one of the hottest things Killua had seen. Especially with the way the motion sorta dragged Gon’s soaked top up his chest even further- nope, not gonna stare at that at their first goddam meeting, no fucking way, calm the damn thirst for one minute in your freaking life, cmon now.

The other man didn’t seem to know what exactly to say at this point, so Killua took the reins, intending to bite out a harsh reprimand for the other’s hyper-reckless behavior, but only managing to groan out a tense “How in the fuck-mothering world did you manage to do that?”

Gon only beamed brighter, laughed eyes-closed with an equally bright, hearty sort of sound that reminded Killua of towering oaks and endless forests and home, bringing another flush to his cheeks that he desperately hoped Gon would fail to notice, or at the very least, fail to mention. When he opened his mouth, his voice was all that his laugh had been, cranked up to 11, richer, brighter, happier, something that could easily be grating were Gon a tiny bit whinier, a touch more nasal, a eye-dropper-drop more unbearably gleeful, but as it was, set Killua more at ease than he had been for years.

“Heh, nobody was supposed to see that, actually- kind of a family secret, y’know? But...” Gon opened his eyes, rich, delicious hazelnut brown, ran them up and down Killua’s body, stared, not in an unfriendly way, into his eyes, leaving Killua feeling as if his entire being, body, heart and soul had just been judged- and going by the grin that broke out on Gon’s face a moment later, had been deemed worthy. Worthy of what, Killua wasn‘t yet sure, but it still felt nice. “But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to let you in on it- I mean, you aren’t from around here, are you? Not like you’d go passing it down the gossip train once we get back to town.”

Killua sweated as Gon’s laugh rang out again, gulped, still shaken from the twin life-changing experiences that were Gon’s eyes, nodded tensely. “Yeah- er, no, I uh...” Thick swallow- _c’mon now Killu, you got this._ “I came in on the ship that docked here an hour or so ago, it’s, uh stopped here for the night, and, uh......”

Gon only smiled back, nodding a very firm affirmative, seemingly oblivious to how uncomfortably-comfortable Killua was at the moment. “Exactly! So there’s no reason in the world not to trust you! Heh, well, that and also...” At this the boy’s expression shifted, still smiling, but now a touch of embarrassment of Gon’s own coloring the look, his eyes flickering off to one side as he scritched his neck harder. “You did kind of seem ready to, uh, jump in and save my life if things went south back there- I’m really glad they didn’t, don’t get me wrong but... I kinda feel I owe you for that, for the thought at least.”

Good, okay, that was good- he didn’t agree with the sentiment, but hearing Gon say he owed Killua something was enough to jolt the white-haired boy out of his stupor, shift him back to something more stern and familiar. “You don’t owe me anything, baaaaaaaaka,” (Mother- **fucking** Milluki and his shitty, addictive cartoons, urrrrgh...) “I was just doing what anybody else would have done in that situation... or, I guess I was about to, if you had fucked up- which you were, like, 98% gonna do with that dumb, anime-ass, stupid fucking stunt, Gon, what even was that?” The sternness shifted to mostly-serious rage easily enough, a change Killua found even more comfortable, thank Arceus, his arms gesticulating in that familiar, over-the-top way that had always brought a smile to his siblings’ lips, or at least to the lips of the ones who fucking knew how to smile.

And to Gon’s too, apparently, that laugh bellowing out again at Killua’s bemoaning. “Heheh, it was kind of stupid, yeah- I mean, I’m not the smartest guy out there, no question there! But it was all part of the plan, you know? It took me forever to figure it out, but outside of not having to reel this guy in,” he slapped Gyrados’ face affectionately, and it almost _moo’d_ affectionately back at Gon, like the freaky pseudo-fish it was. “There wasn’t really anything that surprised me. Actually, now that I think about it, not having to worry about keeping him close probably made it a lot easier overall, so I guess in the end my plan wasn’t all that good to start out with, eheh...”

Killua’s stern gaze did not change in the slightest, his arms ever-so-carefully arranging themselves in a huffy pile across his chest. Gon looked a little nervous, but continued on anyways. “But, y’know, that said, it all worked out in the end! I had practiced that jump probably a thousand times anyways, just in case I had to use it, so that wasn’t a problem, and then it was just a matter of tossing the candies into Dosie’s mouth and boom! Bob’s yer uncle! Or, Dosie is, I guess, and there wasn’t any explosion either, but, uh, it’s just a phrase so it doesn’t really matter all that m-”

Flailing hands and an aghast, more-than-slightly pissed off expression cut Gon off mid-ramble. “Wait wait wait, hold the fucking phone here. _Candies?_ Was that what you just said to me? Fucking _**candies???**_ You took on probably the biggest Pokemon on this pipsqueak of an island with nothing but a fishing rod, your sweet, ripped-as-shit fucking muscles, and a pocket full of _**Mudkip-fucking candy?!?!?!**_ ”

Gon was practically in tears at this point, he was laughing so much, the hand that wasn’t still on the now rather concerned Gyrados busy wiping tears out of his eyes as he cackled and guffawed, still attractively if you asked Killua’s inner monologue, but goofily enough that he was in no way shape or form _intimidatingly_ pretty anymore. Killua was used to his rages amusing people, so it didn’t make him all that mad to be essentially laughed at in his face, gave him a nice little sense of accomplishment, really, but his stern expression didn’t waver. When the other man was able to speak, still a little doubled over and fighting back the remaining giggles, he looked back up at Killua, mirth coloring his already tan face a warm, deep red. “Oh my god, wow! You are so angry!!! I love it, oh my god, eeehehehe, hold on a sec.” Killua felt a growl burbling in his throat as Gon was taken once again by the nefarious giggle-monster, and tapped his foot noisily against the rock and dirt beneath his heelies.

A few seconds later, Gon recovered for the second time, and rose back to a (mostly) proper posture. “Whew, wow. But yeah! It took a lot of snooping around the town and talking a _loooooooooot_ to some of the folks who’ve lived here the longest, but apparently this guy really loves his sweets! After I learned that I gave up on the idea of trying to fight him by myself- I mean how can you not love someone who’s adorable enough to go all drooly at the first sight of some sugary candy, huh?”

Killua very much did _not_ blush and very _very_ much did not stuff his remaining sweets back as far as they would go into his shorts’ pockets. What he totally _did_ do was cough what could only be phlegm and was in no way embarrassment out of his throat, and continue his growly, gravely interrogation. “Okay, fine, you’re a big softy for monsters with cute weak spots, whatever. But how in the hell does a handful of tiny-ass candy change a Gyrados that big from I’m-gonna-blow-yer-fuckin-head-off-and-snack-on-your-balls-for-dessert mode into Wow-let-me-just-slobber-all-over-your-hand-and-never-mind-the-slowly-spreading-pool-of-jizz-under-my-tail mode in half a fucking second flat?!”

Gon had to work through the giggles again, but seemed to recover faster this time, possibly because of the satisfied little grin Killua discovered hanging around his lips too late to wipe it away unnoticed. “Heh, I wondered that too! Well, not the, uh, the jizz part, but the rest of it was totally on my mind when I first heard that stuff! Apparently it has to do with the type of candy itself- here,” He reached down, dug around in the forest-green material of his cargo pants for a couple seconds and pulled out a used wrapper, which he handed over to Killua. Grumbling, Killua took it and tried to un-wrinkle the plasticy thing as best he could, rubbing the creases out on his leg until he could make out the words _Crazy Kara Kitsune’s Iapapa-Cider Flavor Rare Candy!_ in bright blue, garish font, with a picture of a way-too-oversexed wolf-girl in a bra giving the reader a big thumbs up underneath.

Gon shrugged as Killua read, snickering only a little at the ever-growing expression of deep, soul-scarring disgust spreading on the other boy’s face. “Apparently it’s pretty intoxicating normally, and I guess to Pokemon, or at least to Dosie here, it’s also sort of an aphrodisiac? I don’t really understand how it works, but once I got enough corroborating stories from the old guys around here that it actually does work for whatever reason, I had my plan!” Killua looked back up to find Gon scratching his neck again, an embarrassed grin coloring his face. “I think Aunt Mito wanted me to beat Dosie the same way my dad did back when he was on the island, fists and testosterone and all that stuff, but I’m hoping she’ll appreciate the ingenuity too! Eheheh...”

Killua found himself snickering as well at this, at just how earnest Gon was about this stupid-clever plan, how obviously proud he was, but embarrassed and goofy at the same time. And while he suspected Gon was burbling mirth towards Killua for pretty similar reasons, the two of them found themselves embroiled in giggles together before too long.

When they had recovered, Gon, still smiling, took his turn to inquire after Killua now. “So, what brings you out here? I half-expected an audience of some of the local kids, but what brings an outsider to my little, eh, test of strength, or will, or whatever Aunt Mito was testing with this?”

Killua blushed, how silly his own reasoning was only now occurring to him. “Uhh, well, I was just wandering around in town and I, uh, sorta caught wind that there was someone else on the island who was hoping to head into Zaban City and sign up for the Pokemon League, and then I heard that you were out here doing the, uh, the” He waggled his hands vaguely, half in reference to Gon, half in a desperate attempt to cover up his nervous gulp of air. “The test, the, uh, the testy, uh, testes thing. WAIT NO-”

Gon was already in giggles over the verbal mixup, Killua feeling the now-incredibly familiar heat of another blush creeping up his face, but thankfully Gon recovered in now record breaking time, even if it was only a record of three or so attempts thus far. “Well,” he beamed. “Whatever kind of, uh, test-based you were expecting, I’m glad you were here! I was really nervous about it, to be honest, but when I saw you watching down there, right before Dosie came up, and saw how, uh... well, how impressed you looked, I got this huge surge of confidence! So, thanks a ton, er” Gon reached out a hand to Killua, sweated a little. “What was your name again?”

Killua blushed a fraction harder, reaching out his own to grasp Gon’s ( _holy shit okay yeah these are pretty sweaty but they’re so firm and warm and just uuuuuuugh fuck my libido this isn’t even sexy, they’re just fucking hands!!!_ ) in return, coughed. “Uh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, actually. My name’s Killua Z- er, actually, yeah, Killua, just Killua.”

Gon looked a little confused at that, but seemed to pick up on the its-really-personal-actually kind of tone Killua’s voice picked up at the end there, and didn’t press, just grasped Killua’s hand all the firmer (reassuringly? He couldn’t tell). “Killua! Ahh, that’s such a pretty name, awesome!” Killua’s blush was now beet-red, but Gon’s eyes were closed in that happy, anime-esque grin of his, so Killua guessed he didn’t notice, thank fuck. “You already know my name, or my first at least, but I’m Gon Freecss! Pleasure to meet you, Killua!”

They shook hands, and as embarrassed, flustered, and incredulous as this weird pre-teen in a twenty-year-old’s body made him feel, Killua found himself smiling as genuinely as he ever had as they shook, the expression only somewhat fading, and the warmth in his chest not fading a jot as their hands parted, and Gon hopped quickly back up onto his fish. Once he situated himself, legs straddling the crown of the Pokemon’s head, he gestured towards Killua to follow. “Cmon! I’ll give you and your cute little friend a ride back to town!”

Killua had a feeling he’d never be able to say no to that smile. Calling an equally-blushing Naru back into her Pokeball and holstering it back in his belt, Killua strode forwards, hands in his pockets, smirking as he ignored Gon’s outstretched hand and in a single, even-faster-than-Gon’s-bound, leapt onto Gyrados’ head behind the boy. Gon gazed back at Killua in awe, which Killua snorted at, finding it more than a little ridiculous that someone as buff as Gon, who had only minutes prior performed a jump that would put any Pokelympic Gymnast to shame would be awe-struck at a little dashy, zippy, hippity-hop like that.

Gon ignored the snort, content to be impressed with Killua for, in Killua’s mind, no real reason, then patted the space directly behind him. “C’mon, sit that lil’ butt of yours down so we can take off!”

Killua made very certain to sit as far behind Gon as he could so that a certain part of his anatomy that had perked up at Gon’s mentioning of his rump would be as far away from Gon as possible. If anything would ruin this friendship before it even really started, a random boner pressed firmly against Gon’s back would probably do the trick pretty fucking well.

And Killua very much did not want to ruin this friendship.

Gon clacked the heels of his green knee-high boots against the side of the Gyrados’ head, and they lifted off into the sky once again, drifting first back over towards the huge tree so Gon could pick up the fishing rod he had left there, then heading back to the town in the distance.

 


	2. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mito and Gon, Mito and Killua, Gon and Killua, All three together. Bonding, fighting, clinging, letting go, Gon being a total dorkus, domestic family fun before the Big Trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Killua's outfit is 90% taken from this gorgeous bit of fan art by tumblr user last-heroine (http://last-heroine.tumblr.com/post/114628381905/did-my-own-version-of-aged-upkillugon-and-cant) and then filtered through my mind's eye to come out as weird, outlandish, 90's-as-fuck, and overall Killua-esque as possible.
> 
> Chapter title is taken from one of my favorite tracks from the Undertale OST.

Gon’s entire world was Mito-san. Everything else was extraneous, or rather, there was nothing else but her, right here, right now. His eyes, usually bright and beaming, now incredibly intense, consuming, desperate, scanned her face for any sign of approval, any hint that this, _this_ would finally be the time that she’d crack.

Mito, for her part, pulled off a miracle of impassivity. For all the commotion and cries of half-celebration, half-alarm going on behind Gon, in the _other_ , the boy’s aunt remained stony, imperious. Calculating. The teenage part of Gon, the ever-so-small part that wanted to shy away from nature and just revel in movies and fantasy and all that was modern, could almost see a glowing-green programming overlay behind her eyes, buzzing through a thousand thousand lines of code, scanning each one in a millisecond and not missing a single thing.

Their stand-off continued like this for several minutes. Then several more. Gon’s intense gaze started to crack at the third batch of several, that impatience and need for satisfaction that thrummed constantly through his core morphing his gaze from that of a steely-eyed politician into something more akin to a really sad puppy who _reeeeeeally_ wanted to go on that walk, never mind that it was raining outside, and also never mind that the air quality was at **MURDER MAROON** levels of toxicity, and also never mind the rampant gang of Dog-Walker-Stabbers the news had been harping on about so recently, cause, man, hoooooo, hoo boy, that walk, mmmmmm that walk sounded, hoh, pretty, pretty _**freakin’ good**_ right about now. Hooooooooooo boy.

There were approximately 24 people alive on this planet who’s resolve would not shatter into a million patiently-smiling pieces underneath that gaze of Gon’s, and Mito Freecs had never been one of them.Within seconds, her eyes flicked down to the ground at their feet, a reluctant smile pulling at the corners of her lips. _He’s so bright..._ she mused, not for the first time. Her hands almost clenched into fists at the thought, but she stopped them just in time, knowing that Gon would have picked up on the movement, even with her arms crossed in front of her chest as they were. _Which only makes this harder..._

Mito knew that she had held on for far too long, knew she should have let Gon out to explore the world back when he was entering into his teens like any normal, easy-going parent would have. But somehow, every year, every time she considered it, some excuse always happened to land perfectly in front of her. He was too young, too trusting, too gentle, he was the same age his father had been when he had left, Abe was getting old, Abe was dying, Abe had passed away... every year, like clockwork, when it had come time for Gon to ask, there had always been a perfectly impenetrable reason, all polished and ready for Mito to defuse the situation with.

To her closest friends, she had said that she had run out of excuses, that she was recovered from Abe’s passing and it was time to let go. To herself, at nights where she couldn’t quite get to sleep, she knew that wasn’t true. Mito was an incredibly smart, incredibly strong woman, both on the merits of the Freecs family gene pool and her own constant hard work and effort, year after year, to become the best Mito she could be. She could have easily crafted any number of perfect excuses to not let Gon go for years and years onwards, and Gon, bright, shining, heart on his sleeve- heart on his everything boy that he was, would never have shot her down, would never have argued, never left until it was okay with her.

Mito raised her eyes back up to meet Gon’s, tears shimmering in the corners of them, a tight, sad, genuine smile pressed across her mouth. She just couldn’t bear to break his heart one more time.

She nodded, and the look of pure, _pure_ joy that spread across Gon’s face was the best, most joyous response anyone had ever given Mito for anything, the best and worst response she could have gotten, now that the person giving it was leaving on the next boat off the island.

Neither she nor Gon had noticed how deathly quiet the gathering of locals, sailors, and Pokemon behind them had gotten over the past few minutes, how much each and every one of them had been glued to the edge of their seats, waiting to hear what would happen next. But as Gon felt the tension knotted inside his every muscle uncoil and release all at once, felt the victorious, gunfire-loud cry of joy rip its way through his lungs and throat and spray out into the air around them like the sea crashing on the rocks nearby as he turned and cried out _“SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!!”_ , every single living being nearby broke into a joyous frenzy even greater than before.

Over the roar of the crowd, Gon could hear Mito chuckling heartily into her hand behind him. He spun around, pulled her into a great bear hug that chased the last remnants of reservation out of her and spun her around and around as she let out a whoop as loud as Gon’s had been.

It took a few good moments for the two to come to a rest, and Mito pulled only a little out of Gon’s embrace, still laughing. She waggled a finger in his nose, said as Motherly as one could say anything while still chuckling and giggling in joy, chided, “But you come visit again soon, Gon Freecs! I don’t want to see you off tommorow and then not hear from you until your Champion ceremony!”

Gon blushed, laughed more, that familiar nervous habit of scritching the back of his neck making it’s appearance. “Eheh, don’t worry Mito-san! I’ll make sure to call every chance I get! There ought to be a Pokemon Center in all the towns anyways, so it shouldn’t be hard to ring up the one on the island whenever I hit a new city! And I’ll write a lot too! We get a lot of Pelliper around here though, so it might be hard to see which one would carry my mail- ooh, ooh I’ll put a big green ribbon around it’s, uhh, it’s left ankle! That way you’ll always know which one’s from me! And once I get permission from the League I’ll make sure to fly here and visit in person as often as I can! And, and-”

“Alright, Gon, thank you,” Mito cut him off, all-too accustomed to his nervous-excited, stream-of-thought rants. She cupped his face in her hands, pressed their foreheads together. “You don’t have to do all that, you should focus on your adventuring as much as you can! Just... be safe, alright?”

Gon nodded gently, not parting their foreheads- if anything, using the motion to sneak in a little bit of a nuzzle. “Of course I will, Mito-san. You don’t have to worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

“You say that now, sure,” she quipped back at him, sardonic and only half-serious. “But you and I both know how many reports there have been these past few years of young, talented trainers just like you going out into the world and then having some dangerous run-in with a criminal organization, or a legendary, world-destroying Pokemon, or, heavens forbid, _both_ , and then only escaping by the skin of their teeth!”  
Gon smiled warmly, a soft laugh burbling in his chest. “Yes, Mito-san, you’ve told me that probably a dozen times this month alone!” Which was only partially true. Yes, Mito had brought up the worry many, many more times than Gon thought necessary, but it had been Gon who first brought the concern to his Aunt a few years back, feeling small and afraid in the months after Abe’s death.

The two stood together like that for a while, arms wrapped tightly around each other, foreheads still touching, as the raucous celebration continued around them unabated. The villagers had first gathered only a handful of minutes earlier, all pouring out of their homes and workplaces as Gon and Killua had returned from the lake, some in awe at Gon having accomplished his rumored challenge, most in fear and amazement at the massive, titanic Gyrados hovering above them, tail thwapping back and forth through the air like a great, energetic Skitty. Not being the hugest town, it had only taken a little bit for practically everybody to gather around, ooohing and ahhhing at the great, tamed beast, the younger children and more daring adults reaching out tentative hands to pet its scaly, still-slimy hide.

Gon had given careful instructions to his neighbors as to how to treat “Dosie,” as he insisted she preferred to be called, and stealthily handed out the remaining candies he had stored in his pockets to some of the kids nearby, telling them to only feed Dosie one at a time, and only every couple of minutes. Naturally, as soon as he had walked away to have his encounter with Mito, the candies had all but vanished within two, three minutes, tops, and now the great, towering beast was little more than a puddle of affectionate, needy love and cuddling, pressing it’s face and body into every hand close enough to give it the pets it so desperately required.

It occurred to Gon then, as he finally broke from Mito and watched the villagers gallivanting about, that he wasn’t quite sure where Killua had gotten to during all of that. He must have been so focused on whether he had passed Mito’s test that he had lost track of his new friend amidst all the festivities and hullabaloo. It took Gon a few brief moments of Pidgeotto-eyed scanning to find the silvery-haired boy, lounging a little grumpily against the side of the Pokemart, a handful of meters away from the crowd. Left peacefully alone thanks to a mix of his practiced stand-offish attitude and, more significantly to the islanders at least, the undeniably _haute couture_ , city-slicker look of his sleeveless, buckle-and-zipper studded lime jacket, bandage-wrapped hands, and weird pee-and-collard-greens stripped cargo shorts, (an observation Gon would be certain to either never make to Killua, or make constantly to him, whichever was funnier at the time) Killua was passing the time people-watching.

Gon followed the way that the other boy’s awesome moon-blue eyes flicked back and forth across the crowd in front of him, the tiniest of crinkles, imperceptible to most mortal eyes, betraying his cold, unfeeling exterior for what it was- a shield. Gon didn’t know what Killua was shielding himself from, or why his new friend had developed it in the first place, but something about Killua’s _everything_ brought a deep desire to Gon’s heart to make this boy happy, to protect and nurture the smile he had been lucky enough to see back at the lake.

Maybe that was just what friendship felt like? Gon had never had any close friends on the island before- there had been about four other kids near his age back when Gon was much younger, and all but one very-sheltered young girl had moved away by the time Gon had turned 10. After that, he had dedicated the next 9 years of his life to taking care of Mito and Abe the best he could, while also training for his eventual admittance to the Pokemon League, and hadn’t had much time for friendship in the first place, much less any opportunities to form anything more than surface bonds with the islanders around him.

With all that inexperience in being genuinely close to someone outside of his family, Gon really wasn’t sure what he was _supposed_ to be feeling, now that he had met someone so in-tune with the beat of his heart’s drum as Killua clearly was. But then again, Gon had never really been one for doing what he was supposed to do anyways. If he felt like protecting Killua’s smile, and making his friend the happiest he possibly could during the time they had together, Gon was going to do just that, and not a darn thing would stand in his way!

He nodded decisively to himself, and was only conscious of doing so when a soft, bright laugh sounded from his side. He looked back to Mito, finding a warm red flush coloring her cheeks, her free hand pressed to her cheek. Gon laughed a little in return, bemused. “What? What are you laughing at, Mito-san?”

His aunt only laughed more, shook her head. “Later. Right now, I need to go buy your passage for the _Kaijinmaru_! I’ll be back in a little bit.” Letting go of his hand, Mito patted Gon’s arm, nudged him towards the villagers nearby. “Here, go talk to your neighbors while I’m gone, Gon,” They both snorted softly at that, a joke as old as Gon himself was. “I’m sure they all want to congratulate you on your catch!”

With a significant look at the Gyrados nearby, then at Killua in the distance, as if comparing which one she was referring to, Mito walked off towards the pier, leaving a slightly confused Gon behind her.

\---

It took about five seconds for Killua to reach Mito (Gon had called her Mito-san during their flight back to town earlier, but Killua was a busy man, and honorifics were more of an islander thing round these parts anyways) as she strolled jauntily towards the sealine. It would have taken him less time, but he had been munching on some sweet-sour jelly things when she took off, and it had taken him a couple moments to swallow the stuff down. Gross. Tasty, but gross.

The older woman- somewhere in her early 30‘s, Killua guessed- seemed unsurprised as Killua fell in line with her, actually snickering a little to herself as he easily matched her pace. He frowned at that, suspicious of anyone who would snicker at someone as cool as he was, but his frown wasn’t a judging, rude thing, for once.

It had been obvious from the first glance he threw her way, and only became moreso the longer he watched her and Gon make their peace out of the corner of his eye, that this was an incredibly powerful person. Not just in spirit, but in body, mind, and probably every other part of the human anatomy one could be powerful in. He wouldn’t put her at his family’s level, she was certainly no Illumi, despite their somewhat similar stature, but it was blatantly apparent to Killua at least that had she not spent the majority of her life raising Gon, and spent even a fraction of the time that Gon had in training, she could easily have surpassed both him and Killua in strength.

She was a little intimidating, and the first real motherly-type person Killua had ever met, so as inquisitive and suspicious as he was, he made damn sure to keep a cautious, careful distance between the two as they walked.

Mito was the first to break the silence between them. “So, Gon tells me you found him out by the lake,” she said, still working out some of her odd snickerings. It wasn’t a question, but it was certainly leading, and Killua snorted softly at how easily she took control of the conversation.

“Mmm,” He nodded, crossing his arms behind his head casually, staring out at the sea and sky in front of them. “I heard some old geezers talking about that test you set up for him, wanted to get a look myself.” There was an unspoken second part to that, hanging in the air between them.

She smiled, shook her head. “And now you’ve come over to me to see why I would ask such a thing of him, bar his path to freedom in such a horrible way, et cetera?”

Killua scoffed audibly at that, smirked cockily. “Nah. With someone like Gon, the test thing itself didn’t really matter, I could tell that as soon as I saw him- hell, you probably knew as soon as you came up with the test that he’d pass it with flying colors.” He didn’t look to see, but he could hear her bow her head, laugh very, very quietly at herself. “I just wanted to see what kind of person you were, that was all.”

Something in that last part seemed to really tickle Mito’s fancy, the volume knob on her laugh turning from .003 to a brash, hearty 11 in milliseconds. Killua danced away from her a little bit, startled, staring at her like a very alarmed Rattata. It took a few moments for her to calm down ( _so that’s where Gon gets that from,_ ) and she stared, beaming at him, her face still flushed pink, equal parts blush and amusement. “You really are a funny boy. I wouldn’t expect Gon to make such fast friends with any other type, of course, but still, it’s a very silly breeze that blew your path to our little island...”

Killua didn’t understand a fucking word she was saying, could feel the cartoonish anger-mark spring to life on his forehead. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

She only laughed more, not a harsh sound, but it still wasn’t the reaction Killua was used to, so his internal Grr-ometer twitched up a couple more notches in response. Calming down, Mito slowed to a stop, turning to look full-on towards Killua as he followed suit. She ran her eyes over him- not in a shiver-inducing way like Gon had earlier, but in a way that left him feeling intimately _understood_ in a way he wasn’t quite sure he liked. She smiled at whatever it was she learned from her inspection, and gave Killua a bright, eyes-closed, head cocked to one side smile. “Oh, nothing much. It’s just that usually it’s the parents that judge the boyfriend for their first meeting, not the other way around.”

Killua felt that ever-fucking-increasingly familiar burning-red blush sweep up his neck and over the entirety of his face, his whole body paralyzed in what he could only call a super-effective, knock-out burst of embarrassment. Victorious, Mito’s smile turned smirkish, and she walked off before Killua could recover properly.

A couple seconds later, when every nerve in his body had stopped shouting a loud, nasal _HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH??!!?!_ , Killua turned and ran after Mito hurriedly, shouting after her meandering form.

“Oi! Wait a minute, it isn’t like that! Holy shit, are all of you Freecs this embarrassing?!” The last part he muttered to himself, but it seemed to carry enough for the woman in front of him to catch it, pulled her to a smirky, smirky stop as Killua caught up with her, still complaining. “I mean seriously! First he’s all _Ooooh, you’re so inspiiiiiring Killua, oooh lemme give you a big warm handshake, oooh your name’s so preeeeeeeeeetty, Killua, ooooooooh_ , and now you with the b-boyf-boyfr...” He flailed wordlessly, very, very red in the face and also in the everything else. “With all of that stuff!!! We’ve only just met, what is wrong with you people!!!!”

Mito was bent over, giggling profusely, again showing clearly where Gon got most of his habits, and Killua took advantage of the time it took her to cool down to do some cooling of his own, via rapid in- and exhalation of the brisk sea air, and by waggling his hands in front of his face, in order to do the same with his sweat-covered pores. Calmer now, Mito smiled kindly at him. “I know- I was only teasing, Killua, it’s alright. All I meant was, well...” She looked back towards the crowd in the distance, Killua following her gaze to see Gon trapped in the middle of a group of very energetic boys and girls listening, entranced, to whatever he was saying. Going from the grin spread wide on his face and the wild gesticulating he was doing, probably the story of how he made his catch.

Killua felt a fond smile dance around his lips, could hear a similar expression on Mito’s from the way she spoke. “Gon needs people like you in his life, Killua. We only just met, so I won’t pretend like I know you very well yet... but Gon’s never talked about meeting someone as excitedly as he did when he told me about you. And outside of his grandmother and I, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone act so protective towards him as you were just now.” She raised a hand towards him, stopping his counter-argument to how he was totally _not_ being protective, what the hell, before he could even start it. “Walking over here with that determined look on your face? Inspecting me to see if I was _worthy_ of being Gon’s mother-figure? Watching him so possessively earlier- and don’t think I saw that little flash of jealousy on your face while we were hugging back there, young man.”

Killua had had several reprimandings from his own mother in the past, but never had he really felt that kind of affectionate, motherly admonishment before, not like this. He watched the ground between his feet, but felt significantly (surprisingly) better at the smile he could hear in her voice when she spoke up again. “So don’t pretend that you don’t care about him. Gon needs somebody like you in his life, Killua. He’ll probably want to protect you and do his whole my-world-revolves-around-making-you-happy-cause-when-you’re-happy-I’m-happy song and dance business, but...” Killua raised his eyes back to Mito’s face, found her looking away, very deep in thought, concern etched in the many stress-wrinkles now evident in her face. “...make sure he knows that he’s important to you too, alright? I didn’t realize it for a long time, but these past few years... Gon tries, he tries so, so hard, all the time, but I don’t think he likes himself very much, deep down...”

Killua could tell there was more to this- more to the story, yes, but mostly more to what this revelation meant to Mito. He watched her eyes drift back towards where Gon was, saw too many emotions to count flash through them- regret, worry, need, love. And then, as she sighed, a deep, full-bodied, all-the-air-in-her-lungs whoosh of sound, Killua saw her let go of all of it, put it aside for another day.

When her gaze returned to Killua’s, there was nothing but determination, and deathly seriousness left in them. “Take care of my boy, Killua.”

He found himself nodding before he even thought to, but was only surprised to discover how sincerely he meant it in his heart. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, the most heartfelt acceptance of an order he had given in his life.

She nodded, seeming to be satisfied with his answer, then took another deep, long breath, the smile from before returning to her lips as she did so. “Well then, now that we’ve taken care of that, I ought to go buy Gon’s ticket aboard!”

Mito turned to walk away, but Killua was faster, caught her arm in a soft but unyielding grasp. She turned to look his way, confusion in her eyes, and he shook his head. “Go spend time with your son, Mito-san. I’ll take care of the ticket, don’t worry.”

The older woman’s expression turned unreadable, and she scanned Killua once again, this time, Killua was certain, to see if he really would be able to toss that sort of money around out of the blue. Seeming satisfied, thanks to Killua’s impeccable style, he told himself, she snorted softly, shrugged. “If you say so... I’m his Aunt though, Killua, not his mother. I don’t know what he’s told you, but-”

Killua felt a soft smile turn the corner of his lips just slightly upwards, cut her off with a shake of his head. “Maybe not, but he is your son, Mito-san.” He nodded towards the townspeople still partying away on the other side of the docks. “Go on, I’ve got this.”

She considered him for a few more moments before giving in, turning away with a grateful nod. As she left, though, she shouted back over her shoulder at him. “Fine! But you’re coming to out house for dinner tonight! That isn’t a question Killua, you’re coming! Ask Gon where it is when you get back, and we eat at 6‘o’clock exactly around these parts, so don’t stuff yourself with any more candy before then!”

Not even bothering to wonder how she noticed his sweets stash, Killua nodded reluctantly, not wanting to get trapped into more socializing, but unable to say no to this woman. What was it about the Freecs family that made it impossible to refuse them with this shit? “Yes ma’am! I’ll see you there, or, soon, I guess. Uhm. Th-thanks!”

She laughed, threw a dismissive _it’s nothing_ wave at his thanks, and walked briskly off towards the villagers beyond. Killua watched her go, still reeling, still feeling the aftereffects of talking with someone like Mito Freecs... fucking hell.

Killua wasn’t quite sure what sort of relationship he had with this family, and he was even less sure what the hell kind of life he had walked into when he went to that lake barely more than an hour ago, now, but he’d be damned if this wasn’t some of the most interesting shit he’d seen in years.

Turning around, he crossed the remaining distance between him and the ship’s captain, leaning against a crate of some sort of cargo or other near the gangway to the ship, a bottle of that Iapapa booze held lazily in one of his paw-like hands. Killua dug out his wallet from one of the many pockets of his very stylish cargo shorts, and pulling out a small wad of high-denomination Poke-bills, he handed them to the red-nosed, pot-bellied man with a curt, “Another fare for passage to Zaban City. And make it the best room in the boat you’ve got.”

\---

  
Even if he had wanted to skip out on Mito’s invitation to dinner that night, (and the thought had crossed his mind, years-old anti-social habits and more recent fears of putting others at risk merging and mingling around in his head) Killua never got the chance. As soon as he returned from the dock, Gon had used his arrival as an urgently-taken excuse to flee as politely as he could from the crowd of villagers gathered around him, making repeated, loud excuses that he and his friend (cue blush) had to take Dosie back to her home, that it was a crime against nature to keep her away for so long, that she wasn’t a pet or a zoo animal, that the candies/drugs he and the children had given Dosie would wear off soon and he really had to get her back in her lake before things took a pretty sharp turn for the worse.

Contented and panicked in equal parts by his reasoning, the crowd parted, and Gon led the great blue beast out towards Killua. Unable to figure out how to talk his way out of this one, (and if he were honest with himself, not really minding having to spend more time with the guy) Killua followed Gon’s lead, hopped back up onto the Gyrados’ head, and soared back through the sky towards the lake where they had met.

After making their farewells to the great fish, they spent the rest of the daylight hours exploring. Gon took the opportunity to show Killua all his favorite spots on the island; small but meticulously-tended to patches of farmland farther away from the coast, the thicker parts of the forest surrounding the island’s central mountain- or volcano, rather, now that Killua could see it properly- the cliffs to the eastern tip of the island, hanging firm and rugged above the crashing blue below. They spent the most time, however, at the small patch of berry trees and bushes Killua had noticed earlier by the lake, a small farm Gon had started during his training, so that, in his words, he could “give back to all the Pokemon that I bothered while I was out here!”

Gon smiled at a nearby Girafarig gnawing at one of the plants as he explained further. “I was always so loud doing my workouts and practicing my casting and all that, so I thought... well, if someone was that loud and obnoxious around me for a month, but they were only like that cause they were doing something really really important, how would I want them to pay me back, y’know?”

Killua scoffed lightly, leaning against a modestly-sized Leppa tree. “And you’d ask this mystery person to start farming fruit for you?”

That got a nice laugh out of Gon, a feat Killua was starting to discover he was quite good at naturally, even without having to put on a big, huffy, puffy, angry show. The taller boy shook his head, the generous stalk of hair above his head and the modest black ponytail behind it bouncing about. “No no no, _food_ Killua, I’d want them to make me food! And in the end it was actually a pretty good idea, too! After the plants started popping out some fruit here and there, some of the Pokemon around here seemed really really grateful, all snuggly and affectionate and stuff, it was really nice...” He smirked mischievously, scritched his neck. “And, I guess more to the point, when some of the bigger ones picked up that I was here to train, they let me spar against ‘em too!” Gon laughed softly, the smirk starting to fade away. “I just hope that they picked up some farming habits too! I’d hate for the plants to die off, now that I’m leaving and all...”

Gon stared at the plants while not staring at them in the slightest, his eyes glazed over. Killua guessed his mind was flashing through thousands of memories of this place, mentally recategorizing them from Fond and Recent Memories to Super-Sad Nostalgic Ones.

Eventually, once Gon had finished coming to terms with all this, or gotten as close as he could today, they started back towards Gon’s home.

\---

“Mito-san, we’re home!!”

“Welcome home, take off your shoes, and get your butts over here so we can finish dinner!” Gon had already kicked off his left boot by the time his Aunt had started talking, and as he tossed his right one in the general direction of its partner, he took a big, full-lung sniff of the air in the house. _Awwww yeah!_ He pumped a fist in the air as he ran towards the kitchen, laughing excitedly. He had hoped his Aunt would make this for his last night there, had suspected she was planning it all week from the delicious-looking groceries he’d spotted, and that smell, oh lord that smell could only be one thing. One awesome, mouth-watering, meal-of-your-dreams kind of thing.

He hurried past their dining table and ducked into the kitchen- only to duck his head back out an instant later to gesture towards Killua, who was still standing by the door. He waved his new friend forwards, his signature Big Charming Grin spreading on his face to ease the other boy’s nerves as best he could. “C’mon, you can help us cook! Just make sure to really scrub your hands til they’re raw, or Mito-san’ll add a new, floofily-white-haired ingredient to the meal!”

Gon cackled at Killua’s expression, the other blanching as if he genuinely wouldn’t put it past Gon’s Aunt to do just that, then zooshed over to the big kitchen sink himself. Behind them, over the whooshing and clacking and clattering kitchen noises, Gon heard an anxious-sounding Killua call out, “Uhh, this may sound kinda dumb, but I don’t actually, um, know how to cook....at all...”

Gon snorted at the sink, finishing his requisite three rounds of intense hand-washing in record time, and skittered behind Mito-san as the older woman shouted over her shoulder at Killua. “Don’t think that’s getting you out of helping, young man! You may have less survival skills than a Mr. Mime Jr. but we’ll find some use for you yet. Gon!”

He snapped to a stiff attention, hand rocketing towards his forehead- rocketing too quickly, as it turned out, the light _smack_ earning a giggle out of his Aunt. “Yes, ma’am!”

“You take care of the ham and au jus, Killua can finish chopping the rest of the veg- you can handle vegetable-chopping at least, mmmmyesss?” Her voice was faux-haughty to the extreme, Gon could hear the cat-like curve to her lips as she spoke.

And, to his surprise, as he started to poke and prod at the still-roasting ham and its juices below, Gon could hear practically the exact same expression on Killua as the teen zipped to the sink faster than Gon himself had, putting on a bowing-and-scraping-servant act to compliment his Aunt’s. “Oh, yes ma’am, Miss Freecs ma’am, I think I can manage that, just barely ma’am, oh goodness, oh me oh my.”

“Hahah, excellent!” Mito shot right back, keeping up the performance much to Gon’s snickering delight. “Be thankful we allow you to perform even as menial a task as that, whelp! Dogs like you ought to be ground into the dust!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Into paste!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Into a delicious steak tartare!”

“Would that be served with a creamy horseradish sauce on the side, ma’am?”

“For the likes of you?! Hah! A tepid balsamic glaze, _at best!!_ ”

Their banter continued in that manner for a while, and it wasn’t until Killua was already hard at work decimating the last of the carrots that the conversation turned even slightly serious. “So, Killua,” Mito began, the remnants of a smile still crinkling her eyes as she tended to the massive stew-pot before her. “Where do you hail from, exactly? Gon told me you came in on the _Kaijinmaru_ out in the harbor, but that stops all over the place before it graces our shabby little shores.”

Gon turned, glanced towards Killua as he heard the other pause, just momentarily, in his chopping. For the most part, Killua showed no signs of distress or agitation, but Gon could see the veins on the back of the other’s hands standing out just a touch more than usual as the pale kid slid his first pile of veg to the side of the cutting board. Not that Gon had been staring long enough to make up a mental photo-library collection of The Way Killua’s Soft, Refined Hands Normally Look or anything like that, but still.

When Killua spoke though, his voice was as confidant and cocky as ever. “Oh, I come from all over. My family used to travel a lot before I moved out, so I never really stayed in one place long enough to call it home, but I guess our ‘home base’ was up by the mountains to the north of the main continent.”

“Oh, a mountain boy, huh? But you say you moved out?” Mito’s tone was genial enough, but Gon knew his aunt well enough to tell she was probing for as many details as she could get out of her foster-son’s new friend.

“Mmm, a couple of years ago, yeah. Wanted to get out and make my own way in life, y’know? See the world with my own eyes, all that jazz.” Killua replied, languidly and in general enough statements so that while he spoke a fair amount, he didn’t really _say_ much of anything.

Gon knew before she spoke though that his Aunt wouldn’t be satisfied with just that, and as predicted, the older woman’s tone became far more direct as she opened her mouth again. “But you’re only now starting your League challenge? And you’re traveling there in the hold of some backwater fishing boat? I know you could afford a lot nicer accommodations from all that money you flashed at the ship’s captain- and a more direct route too, at that.”

The air grew very, very still over the next few seconds, the usually intoxicating smell of the food now almost suffocatingly thick in the small confines of the kitchen. Killua continued to chop the remainder of his veg, his posture not changing at all, but Gon could feel a mysterious, ominous _something_ emanating from his friend as he spoke. “What do you want me to say, Miss Freecs?” He didn’t quite bite out her name, but it was a close thing. “That I’m on the run, that I’m some sort of untrustworthy delinquent or-”

“Killua, please-”

“Cause I sure don’t know what to tell you, ma’am. If you don’t want me in your home, all you have to do is-”

Mito, to both the boys’ surprise, laughed at that. “Killua, relax, please. I guessed all of that delinquent stuff long before I invited you to our home- gods know your, erm, ‘attire’ shouts it loudly enough for anyone within a ten mile radius to pick up on.” Over Gon’s half-muffled snort ( _She said it oh my god she said it_ ) and Killua’s cry of mostly-serious offense, she pressed forwards. “Also, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but you haven’t actually been using your knife since I started asking about your family.”

A brief silence filled the kitchen at that, Gon and Killua both looking towards Killua’s cutting board to see a very, _very_ unnaturally-sharp-looking hand buried in the middle of a head of cabbage. Killua blushed a deep red, looked over towards Gon only to blush even deeper. Gon wondered at that for a moment, then realized that his expression was probably mirroring his thoughts regarding their discovery, those thoughts being an emphatic, awed and wonderous _Oh **cool!!!**_

His aunt, predictably enough, broke the silence yet again. “I don’t care if your family is dangerous or bad enough to be worth all that effort to avoid, or that your past is abnormal, or that you are- I mean look at Gon, abnormal people are kind of the bread and butter of this household.” Mito didn’t turn too much away from the stew, but she glanced over her shoulder long enough to catch Killua’s eyes with her own, make sure he caught her smile, her honesty. “All I’m saying is that if things get rough for you out there and you need someplace to call home, our doors are open to you too. Okay?”

Gon hadn’t thought that someone so pale-skinned could blush so much, but as he had since the moment they met, Killua surprised Gon yet again. The boy managed a shaky, murmured “Y-yes, ma’am...” before he had to hide his face and any further evidence of his embarrassment with more chopping- knife-assisted, this time.

Mito nodded, and they all returned to their individual tasks, making comparatively casual conversation over the next half hour as they finished preparing the meal. Ten minutes later, the table was set- not a massive feast by any standards, just hearty ham-and-more-ham sandwiches with a bowl of stew to dip them in, really, but between the smell of the food, the homey atmosphere, and the pure, undiluted feeling of _family_ that infused the air of their dining room... even though he had to leave, Gon knew in his heart that nothing would make him happier than moments like these.

Tearing their eyes away from the meal none-too-easily, the three of them nodded at one another in satisfaction of a meal well-made, and dug in,

\---

“Now you boys make sure to go to bed on time, alright?” Mito called out as Gon and Killua scrambled up the stairs, full of food and still buzzing with energy after the talkative and delicious dinner they had just finished. “I don’t want to hear you two chatting each other’s ears off til 4 A.M. only to get all sluggish and whiny in the morning!”

“I’m 19, Mito-san, you don’t have to say stuff like that to 19-year-olds!” Gon shouted back down, adding in a very put-upon, freshly-teenage eye-roll at the end that made Killua snicker like a fiend.

“Mmmhmm, suuure Gon, that’s why you’ve never ever come downstairs looking like something that skulked out of the depths of the forest on important test days- or why you’ve never ever skulked out of the depths of the forest yourself at some ungodly hour, hmm?” Killua was snickering more- he had been content to play the clown for the majority of the time since he had met Gon, but somehow Mito had turned that dynamic on its head over the course of their dinner, and Killua loved the old woman more and more for it as Gon got more and more flustered over the course of the night.

Gon just scampered quickly down the stairs and shot Mito a goofy look in lieu of a reply. After he did though, from where Killua was standing, higher up on the stairs, it looked as if Mito was kicking off some sort of heartfelt last-minute chat, so he decided to leave the two to their devices and crept silently up the remainder of the stairway to the darkened floor above.

Killua had hoped that it would be fairly simple to find where he was supposed to sleep; Gon and his aunt could be settling into an hours-long chat for all he knew, and beyond just not wanting to be a bother to the first people who had been this absurdly kind and welcoming to him in years, Killua didn’t think he could stay awake for much longer. Between the emotional drain of meeting someone he got along brilliantly with, talking with them all day long, Gon’s expedition to practically every square inch of the island, and the surprisingly filling and delicious home-cooked meal, even someone with endurance as insanely strong as Killua’s was would need some pretty hearty shut-eye right about now.

All that said, Killua didn’t know where the fuck he was supposed to go at this point. There were several rooms on the second floor; a couple that were obviously bathrooms, a modestly-sized bedroom with the door wide open that was clearly Gon’s room, another at the opposite end of the house that looked tidy enough to be Mito’s, and one room with its door firmly closed that Killua assumed to belong to Mito’s late grandmother.

The old lady’s room didn’t look like it had been touched since she passed on, so Killua guessed that they weren’t going to shack him up there, and Gon’s room looked like it only had one bed from what Killua could see. Were they going to make him sleep in Mito’s bedroom? Killua gave a full-body shudder at the thought, he’d rather sleep on the dining room table than let his defenses drop next to someone as scary as Mito was, all due respect to her. They didn’t seem like the kind of people to make him take the floor, not that he would mind if they were of course, and he certainly wouldn’t make any of them do the same-

“Killua!” A warm hand slapped onto Killua’s shoulder, startling him out of his musings and sending him rocketing to the other end of the hallway, alarmed instincts taking control as he leapt into the space above one of the bathroom doorways, clinging to the ceiling. Gon, damn him, just guffawed and cackled at Killua’s reaction, but defused the shorter boy’s rapidly-growing anger by giving him that same amazed and awed look Gon had shown back in the kitchen. Why did this kid have to be so annoying in _so many fucking ways all the damn time?_

Doing one of his signature annoyed little tsks, Killua dropped back to the floor, hands auto-thrusting into his pockets huffily. “You’re back awfully fast. I thought Mito was gonna mom your ear off for another couple decades at least.”

Gon smirked, tossed Killua a neck scritch in return. “Heheh, nah, she just wanted to be all mushy and give me a big hug and tell me to check on you.” Killua blushed lightly at that, shot Mito a dirty look through the walls and floor. For an aunt, this lady sure acted like every adorable, motherly mom in every book Killua had read. Irritating. Gon continued, “So, you ready to hit the hay? I’m pret-” He cut himself off mid-sentence with a yawn that made every single muscle in his body flex and stretch, and Killua had to tear his eyes away very, very quickly before they got too tangled up in the display.

“Uhh, yeah, I was looking for where I was supposed to go when you snuck up on me,” Killua replied, coughing a little to mask his embarrassment, though if he kept up that sort of cover every time he got embarrassed with this guy, he’d just look like he had some really nasty bronchitis after a while. “Where do you want me? Er, uhm, to sleep, I mean. Yeah.” _Fuck._

Gon, bless him, just looked confused-amused as to why Killua was blushing yet again, but took on some embarrassment of his own as he replied. “That’s kinda the thing, hehe... we don’t have a huge house, really, so you’ll kind of... have to, uh...” Gon’s turn to cough blushily now. “...have to...uhm...share my bed with me.” Gon shot him an apologetic glance, a little smile. “Mito didn’t seem to think it’d be a problem since we’re ‘ _both grown boys, should be mature enough to handle something like this, blah blah blah,_ ” he parroted her voice pretty convincingly, and Killua could feel a tiny smirk manage to break through the embarrassment/terror covering his face at the thought of trying to sleep next to someone like Gon all night. “I told her that it’d be awkward and weird for you, since we just met and all, and it isn’t a huge bed or anything-”

“I don’t take up a lot of room, that’s okay.” Killua’s eyes widened in panic at what had just spilled unconsciously out of his mouth, cursing in several languages at his brain for shitting out something that stupid while his defenses were down.

Gon though (and Killua hastily rescinded his previous blessing of the asshole) looked as relieved as if Killua had just told him the cancer was finally in remission or some bullshit TV-drama line like that. “You don’t mind then?! Aw, yes! I haven’t been able to share beds with anyone since I was a little kid, aw I’m so glad you’re cool with this Killua, thanks!”

Killua felt what little control he still had over his life slip through his fingers, discovering all too soon that he probably would never be able to say no to someone as hype and bare-faced as Gon was, for better or worse. Probably for worse. Shit. All he could do was nod slowly, follow Gon as the other led the way into his almost-clean room. He let his body run on autopilot as they prepared for bed, stripping down to his tank-top and using a pair of hopefully-clean pajama pants Gon lent him, letting his subconcious take over as they chattered away about something or other, Killua’s concious mind trying to ready itself for what would probably be a more tortuous experience than Killua had ever encountered in a life chock-fucking-full of all kinds of torture.

He used the bathroom first, finding a still-wrapped toothbrush Mito must have picked up in town for him earlier, the evil, evil sweetheart, and settled into the bed as close to the wall as he could scrunch himself up while Gon took his turn. Killua knew that he was a toss-n-turner in his sleep, and he wished as hard as he had ever wished for anything in his miserable life that the habit would skip tonight, just for once.

Killua closed his eyes, repeating _Please don’t do anything embarrassing while I sleep, please don’t do anything embarrassing while I sleep_ over and over in his mind, sending it like a prayer to Alluka.

The last thing he could remember thinking before he fell asleep, was that as far as people or deities to pray to, someone as trickstery as Alluka was probably wasn’t the best choice....

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya kids and kidderinos, don't stop here, this is a two chapter update! This chapter took me frigging ages to hammer out, really bit by bit, a couple thousand words a day at best, but by the time I finished it, I already had the idea for the start of chapter 3 fresh and bubbling in my brainspace, so I wrote that too! 
> 
> I didn't want to publish the chapters separately for several reasons- chapter 3 is only 5k-ish words long, this chapter has a lot in it but not a whoooooole lot of progress and I'm as thirsty for this fic to progress as you are, I'm a masochist that doesn't like to have a backlog of chapters ready (apparently), there's a very nice scene at the start of the next chapter that's.. whoo boy... oh man... 
> 
> Lots of reasons! But the end result was two nice steaming hot chapters for you on the same day! So hit that next chapter button, saddle up for some steamy nsfw action, and enjoy! And as always, if you've got comments, questions, anything relating to the fic your heart and mind and soul may feel, head on over to seventh-tense.tumblr.com or seventh-scribbling.tumblr.com or my twitter @seventhTense to shoot me a hidey-ho! I'd hyperlink that so you could just click on the text, but apparently ao3 doesnt do that in their notes, so fuck it! 
> 
> See y'all in the next chapter!


	3. Allons-y (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gon gets very hot and bothered indeed, then Gon gets gone. Hahahahah. Oh yes. The jokes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [12/25/15 EDIT ADDED TO END NOTES RE: NEXT UPDATE AND A SMALL DELAY THEREOF. ENJOY!]
> 
> AND NOW FOR THE SEX. Sort of.
> 
> So as I said in the tags and shit, this fic is one that involves copious amounts of bodily sexual sexiness, or at least for now, one small scene with some sexiness involved. For now. 
> 
> Potential trigger warning for very, very mild dubcon here? I guess? If you're sensitive to those kinds of things, you might want to skip to halfway through the chapter, I personally don't think it's too triggering, but I thought it wise to at least place a warning here. Let's just say, in so many words, that Gon is and has always been very easily driven by the impulses of his heart. The advantage in this fic, however, is that he's old enough and smart enough to know when he's going too far, for the most part. 
> 
> Enjoy! And the chapter title is taken from one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs, off their latest and last album.

Gon woke up in stages, each one of them, for the most part, very, very pleasant and wonderful. His senses returned to him first, the feel of a soft breeze creeping through the crack in his window brushing softly against his skin, the smell of dew and pollen tickling his nose from the same place. His internal clock told him it was still early morning before his mind was aware enough to comprehend what that actually meant, and there was something soft, warm, and wonderful pressed up against his body in addition to the years-old sheets draped over him.

It took a few minutes, but that last realization was what shot Gon from content, sleepy, half-awareness to full-on _whoa what the hell is going on here_ mode over the course of about 3 milliseconds.

His eyes shot open- then instantly scrunched closed again as the sunlight drifting into his room from the outside made it’s presence known. Gon reached up his free hand to rub at his eyes, getting rid of the sleep dirt that had built up overnight and trying to get some blood flowing to them. More cautiously, he tried again, and this time could make out his surroundings with only a little bit of just-woken-up blur tinging his view.

He could tell within instants what the alarming-but-comfortable warmth that had woken him so suddenly was. Right in front of him, his fluffy white head mere inches from Gon’s own, lay Killua. His hands were tucked under his cheek like a child, and one of Gon’s arms was draped over his shoulders, pulling the two even closer. Mild panic starting to set in, Gon mentally checked the rest of his body, not wanting to move his head for fear of waking the other up, and found that the two boys were... there was no other word for it, _snuggled_ up against each other, the fabric over their chests and bellies the only thing separating the two from being fully pressed against each other, one of Gon’s legs nestled between Killua’s.

That wasn’t the worst part. Oh no. Oh dear golly goodness no. If it had just been that, yeah Gon would have been alarmed, he would have been red in the face, sure, anyone with even the slightest bit of self awareness would realize how incredibly awkward it was to wake up like this next to someone you had just met the day prior, especially when the two of you were still cementing your friendship together. But Gon could have handled that. He’d feel like a dick for doing that to Killua, especially for forgetting to warn Killua that he was a bit of a snuggler even when he slept on his own, often waking up with a leg straddling his comforters like an old lover, but he could have probably managed.

The worst part was that, as they were positioned now, with their legs tangled and Killua’s thighs Clampearl-clamped onto his own, Gon’s morning wood was pressed firmly against what Gon could only imagine was it’s mirror double in Killua’s own pants.

It felt _really_ good, and Gon hated _everything_.

There was no way to free his leg. There just wasn’t. Gon tried, ever-so-slowly, to pull his leg away, but even such a small movement caused their dicks to rub just the slightest bit against each other, sending a rush of pleasure flowing throughout Gon’s entire body that made him feel like a disgusting pervert for getting off on someone who was asleep, who hadn’t asked for this sort of thing.

It wasn’t until a few moments later, once his internal self-berating had died down, that Gon realized something far more important. It was very, very soft, almost imperceptible really, but through his slightly-parted, pale lips, in response to the movement, Killua was breathing out what could only be described as the smallest and most adorable of moans.

Arceus be damned he was gross as hell for feeling this way, but Gon couldn’t for the life of him fight back the smile that bloomed on his own face at the realization, half in appreciation for how dang adorable Killua was when his guard was down, half in very bad, very mischievous thought. Gon was a 19-year-old boy, still in the midst of the biggest growing period his life would ever see, and had been through equal parts fate and choice, isolated from anyone his own age for the majority of his life. And just as a part of his nature, Gon was very, very curious.

He moved his leg again, this time not with the intention of pulling it away, but rather to purposely, ever-so-gently rub their cocks together, not more than a centimeter’s worth of movement, but just enough to feel a slightly more intense tingling of pleasure run through him, to hopefully do the same to Killua.

And lo and behold, what a reward lay before Gon’s eyes for the effort. Still with that defenseless, gorgeously honest look coloring his expressions and making Killua look like a _completely_ different person, the paler boy let out another moan, just the littlest bit louder this time, curling his lip slowly back into his mouth to bite softly on it, as if even in sleep he had trained himself to cover up any potentially-embarrassing expressions or feelings.

Gon’s smile deepened, his mind all-too-easily giving into the dark, swirling glee he felt at getting this kind of a reaction out of his friend. He knew it was wrong, knew he was wrong for doing this sort of thing for more reasons than he could list, but damned if it wasn’t satisfying as all hell to see. Gon was a little thick sometimes, but he wasn’t blind. He had caught how much Killua had been staring at him the previous day, those flushes and blushes and difficult swallows when he looked Gon’s way. At the time, he had just been thankful that Killua seemed so distracted with trying to cover those reactions that he ended up missing Gon’s own share of red-cheeked embarrassment, born from the feelings Killua’s looks and character sent coursing through his own body. But now that Gon had the time to think, he really couldn’t tell why someone as pretty as Killua was would be so blatantly attracted- physically at least- to a muscle factory like Gon.

Now that he had the opportunity, Gon took a good, long, unshielded look at his new friend, and just... damn. Gon didn’t like to curse as much as Killua did (which made the other’s sailor mouth all the more hilarious to Gon, really) but damn. It wasn’t that Killua was any sort of dream-boat, or _the guy every girl/boy dreamed of_ or anything stereotypical like that. He had a beauty all to his own, a look that was singularly unique to him, and yet one that Gon couldn’t imagine anyone in the whole world not being attracted to.

His face was sharply angled, refined, the bridge of his nose and his cheekbones shaping his face more gorgeously in their natural state than any makeup artist could hope to replicate on another. More than that though, his features had this indefinable quality to them that made Gon think that the other boy could easily have gone for the more rugged, rock-hewn-beefcake look if he wanted to, but... it wasn’t that he chose not to, more that Killua just didn’t _need_ to. Killua _felt_ strong without needing to look like a championship body builder like Gon did. Not that he looked weak or anything, Killua was the walking, talking dictionary definition of fitness, but it was the kind of fitness that told you within moments of seeing it that he could do anything in the world he wanted to you, leaving you only able to pray that you’d weather the oncoming storm.

Gon’s eyes, still very crinkled from how much just looking at Killua made him smile, traced down the other’s body- and his expression started to fade, replaced slowly, bit by bit, with a sad sort of frustration. It was clear, from the scars that Gon could now see decorating almost every square centimeter of Killua’s arms, that the feeling the other man gave off was one that only half-came naturally, the other half having been beaten into him over the years by.. what? By life? His family? The second possibility made Gon’s teeth clench in anger.

It had been obvious from even the little that Killua had said the night before that his biological family had treated him pretty dirt-poorly, though Gon couldn’t imagine, didn’t want to imagine the details on what would have left his friend like this. To think that anyone would treat someone like Killua that poorly, Killua, who Gon could tell even from just a few hours of knowing him was so intensely kind and hopeful, who so desperately, obviously wanted life to go well, wanted to treat others with love and kindness and care and be treated the same in return... To have taken someone as naturally gentle and nurturing as Killua was and do... whatever it was they had done to him... Whether it was Killua’s family who had done so, or some other unknown party, Gon would never forgive them for that.

Gon gazed back up towards Killua’s eyes, took in how serene, how peaceful he looked, and realized at that moment that perhaps, if Killua would let him, Gon really would add a secondary goal to his journey, to his life as a whole. First, to see the world and become strong and talented enough that he’d be able to find his father. Second, to make it so that Killua would be able to look this way every day, for as long as Killua would let him do so.

Gon knew that it was an over-the-top thing to want. He had felt the gentle stirrings of the same feeling the afternoon before, but he knew now that it was incredibly premature to be having the far more intense, life-altering version that was now swirling around his heart, especially just one day into their friendship, but at the same time... well, Gon knew his heart had never really been normal anyways, had always connected too fast and too strongly to some ideas, people, places, Pokemon that he ran into, had been too distant and calculating towards others. But even if he was abnormal, weird, too true to his last name, Gon didn’t really care. He wanted this, and if fate and Killua’s own heart were willing, he’d see it through to the end of the line.

That mischievous smile creeped its way back up onto Gon’s face. Because really, why not, why the hell not start right here and now? (There were hundreds of reasons, Gon instantly forgot about all of them, the desire in his heart too strong to fight.) Gon shifted his leg again, drawing his still-hard morning member across Killua’s own, a little more intently this time, and he felt a dark, curling warmth coil around his heart, mingling with the physical pleasure as Killua murmured another gentle-yet-impassioned moan.

Why not indeed.

Settling into a slow, easy rhythm, Gon continued to draw his thigh and erection back and forth against the just-noticeably-twitching line in Killua’s pajama bottoms- in _Gon’s_ pajama bottoms, ones that Killua just happened to be wearing, and something in the potential implications of the thought got Gon’s heart beating just a little faster, his leg pressing just a little closer to Killua. He managed to get a slightly louder moan out of Killua for his efforts, his eyes locked onto the subtle shifting in the other’s expressions, how Killua’s face seemed to draw into itself to hide his pleasure from the world, his hands clawing just the slightest against the pillow beneath them. It was gentle and innocent in a way, but Gon’s mind did triple-backwards-somersaults at what it implied Killua would be like when he was completely undone, a sight Gon now knew in his heart he had to see one day, come hell or high water, he _had_ to. There was no other way. He had to strengthen their bonds, deepen their friendship, their connection, to the point where he could bring that kind of feeling into Killua’s life in a hundred different ways, not just sexually, but through laughter, through support, through good times and bad. Gon would be damned to hell and back and back to hell again if he didn’t make Killua have those kinds of expressions as frequently and as intensely as was humanly possible to do.

Gon realized he was panting pretty heavily at this point, felt his face warm and flushed, felt something wet pressing from the tip of his dick onto his leg, and realized he was seriously getting excited here. Half of his mind shouted at him to stop now, before he woke Killua up and ruined everything before it even started, the other half whispering dark temptations to keep going, urging him to take it as far as he could, test these new waters he was discovering, see how far this could go, how temptingly, tortuously close he could get to the peak before he had to stop-

A moan caught in Killua’s throat, and turned into a wet, hacking cough that hunched the smaller boy over, drew his body away from Gon’s, and the decision was blissfully taken out of Gon’s hands. Hurriedly taking advantage of the incident to turn away as much as he could from Killua, Gon whapped the other’s back a couple of times to help the cough go on its way.

It faded after a couple more coughs that a weird part of Gon’s brain still found attractive, and Killua looked up towards Gon, bleary-eyed and still half-numb with sleep, slurred at him “Mmm, you awake already?”

“Y-yep!” Gon squeaked out, his voice in a thousand different places, and he hacked a little bit himself to cover it up. He couldn’t do this, had to get out of the room before Killua realized what had happened- “A-actually Killua I have to, uhm, use the bathroom really fast! Yeah! Eheh... you, uhm, you...”

But Killua merely nodded as Gon swung his legs out of the bed, and sleepily gathered more blankets to himself, pressed his cheek into the pillow. “Mmm, alright.. have a good piss, thanks f’r th’ help wi’h....cough...”

Killua had passed out again by the time Gon had reached the door, slipping out of the room and running as elegantly as he could (which wasn’t very at all, considering the _very_ erect erection throwing off his balance) to the bathroom. He closed the door as silently-but-firmly as he could, locking it, then pressing his back to the door. What the hell was wrong with him, _**urgh...**_

As much as he tried to, Gon couldn’t get the image of Killua’s peaceful, arousal-tinged face out of his mind, knew he had to soon before something else disgustingly embarrassing happened. Shaking his head, he started to strip down, reaching into the shower to his right and twisting it on as he tossed his clothes to the floor.

Gon clambered into the shower, hand already wrapped around himself and stroking wildly as he did so. As soon as he shut the shower curtain behind him, Gon felt his legs start to give out, sank down with his back to the shower wall. He stroked himself faster, thumb rubbing the tip of his cock as he imagined Killua’s face as flush as it had been moments before, but fully awake this time, lust dancing through the other’s silver-blue eyes, imagined their lips pressed tightly together, the feel of Killua’s tongue against his, the feel of Killua’s skin against his.

Gon bit his lip, leaning his head back, feeling his long hair dancing around his shoulders as his pace quickened further. He imagined the sound of his hand slapping against the base of his cock was Killua’s skin doing the same, imagined the heat and the warm of Killua around him, Killua’s mouth, his tongue, his ass as Gon would thrust into him, hands clenched on Killua’s rear, fingernails marking the other as his own just as they dug and marked Gon’s own thighs now.

And as his other hand found its way up his thighs and between his legs, Gon imagined Killua bent over Gon, thrusting into _him_ instead. Gon leaned back farther, felt himself slide down the ceramic of the shower floor, pressed his fingers against his rim, rubbing against himself, into himself as he felt his lower half relax, his mind full of Killua smirking down at him, kissing down his body until he was between Gon’s legs, running his tongue up the top of Gon’s dick, down the other side, down further, its warmth caressing Gon’s balls, then further, circling around Gon’s opening and then further, further, heat and wet and burning, heavenly warmth pressing into Gon, his mind replacing the tongue with fingers stretching him wider, more open, more ready and need, then turning to the tip of Killua’s cock pressing against him, into him, sliding and thrusting and filling Gon with the heat and pleasure and wholeness he dreamt of, slamming into him over and over until-

“Killua, fuck Killua- _ah!_ ” Gon clung to himself as he came, pulse after pulse running through the whole of his body, burning and blooming like the sun in his chest as he bit back a moan that he knew would echo throughout the house and the whole of the island if he let it.

Gon lay there ten or so minutes later, still holding onto his slowly softening dick, come washing off his legs and the floor of the tub as he rode out the last of his orgasm’s high. Just barely, he opened his eyes, gazing up at the soft tan paint on the ceiling and listening to the beat of his heart thrumming through his body.

Okay. That was... well. He had a long, long, long way to go before any of that could come even close to happening in reality, but... well.

He laughed softly at himself. What a way to start off Day 1 of his adventure, huh?

\---

Hours later, once they had eaten a quick breakfast, packed a few spare clothes and non-perishables into their bags, and said their farewells to Mito, Killua and Gon walked up the gangplank of the _Kaijinmaru_ to the cheers and shouted well-wishes of what may as well have been every single living inhabitant of the island.

Killua knew the shouts were for Gon, and took the opportunity to both let Gon have his moment in the spotlight, shouting and waving back to his childhood friends and neighbors, as well as give Killua himself an opportunity to yawn mightily and close his eyes for a couple seconds. He had woken up feeling very refreshed and rested, but for some reason a warm, sleepy feeling had been swimming inside him the whole day, beckoning him back to bed.

He shook it off. This was no place to let himself drift off, and besides, even though it really had nothing to do with him, Killua couldn’t help but feel happy at the send-off Gon was receiving. People really did love the kid here- for good reason, obviously, but even with Gon’s unfaltering aura of _coolness_ making their feelings towards him perfectly logical, it was still pretty special for Killua to see such love and support all centered on one person.

As the sailors pulled in the gangplank and the boat started coasting off into the sea, Killua eyes rested on the back of Gon’s head as the spiky-haired, ponytailed mess waved and gesticulated towards the crowd, shouting out specific goodbyes to everyone he could see. He smiled, and Gon must have felt Killua’s eyes on the back of his head, because a moment later he turned around, eyes searching for Killua’s, and shot him such a bright, intensely positive grin and thumbs-up that Killua really didn’t know what to do with himself. It was like all the energy Gon was receiving from the islanders was focused in Gon’s smile, then shot out as one single beam towards Killua’s heart.

He was saved from the intensity of Gon’s... _Gon-ness_ by a ear-shatteringly loud shout from the shoreline, the people standing there now standing small in the distance, but the voice shooting towards them as loud as if the speaker had been only a few meters away.

 _“YOU COME BACK SAFE AND SOUND, GON FREECS!”_ Mito shouted at them, the voice firm and determined, and full of emotion. Gon’s beaming grin grew even brighter, if possible, as he twisted back towards the shore, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted back just as loudly.

 _“I WILL, MITO-SAN!! AND I’LL BE THE BEST TRAINER YOU’VE SEEN WHEN I DO! I LOVE YOU!!!!!”_ He shouted, and even with all the strange, freakish, nasty parts of the world Killua had seen over the course of his life, Gon’s shout was the loudest, most heart-felt, intense thing he had ever experienced up until that point. As much as it made his ears hurt, Killua couldn’t stop himself from grinning as he watched Gon, the taller boy continuing to wave and wave at the island as it shrunk in the distance, eventually settling himself onto the ship’s railing, arms crossed under his chin, watching his old home fade away into the blue.

Eventually- Killua felt too at peace to tell how long it took- Gon stood up, gave one of his full-body stretches again, and turned towards him. The other boy’s smile was still there- not nearly as bright as before, tinted with the shadows of the homesickness Killua guessed Gon would be feeling for a long time to come, but was still there all the same. Gon looked around the ship for the first time, taking the bustling sailors and more-bustling Machop, the rope and crates and still-wet wood of the ship’s deck as he spoke.

“So, Killua! Where... uhm, where do we put our stuff? I wanna watch the ocean for a little while, but, uhm...” He hefted the bag hanging down from his shoulder at Killua, which looked just as heavy as Killua’s own felt strapped across his chest. “I kinda wanna dump this off first, you know?”

Killua nodded, levering himself off the pole he had been leaning on, walking towards the door to belowdeck without having to look for it. “C’mon, I’ll show you to where they’ve got you set up.” They strolled casually towards the door, and got a good couple steps down the main stairwell before a gruff, booming voice sounded from behind them.

“Hahah! Killua, right?” Killua paused, turned around tiredly to see the bulbous, red-nosed Captian of the ship standing at the doorway above, blocking out most of the light with his frame, his big, chapped lips curled around a weatherbeaten pipe which didn’t actually seem to be lit. “So, this is the newcomer, huh? Whatshyer name, son?”

Killua could feel the bright smile and wave from behind him, winced. This was not a man Gon needed to be that friendly too, it rankled every anti-social bone in Killua’s body. “My name’s Gon!”

“Gon, huh?” The old man rubbed his chin, or what he could reach of it through his rough, smoke-and-blonde beard. “Weird name. Not as weird as Killua, but still. You aimin’ to take the league challenge like thish lil’ edgy so’n’so here?”

He could feel his anime-ass anger mark twitching in his forehead, felt it twitch more intensely at Gon’s raucous laugh at the Captain’s jab. “Hehehe, yes! I’m going to become the best trainer in the world, and hopefully through that I’ll find my dad too!”

Killua shot an aghast look towards Gon- why the hell was he telling this old geezer his life story right off the bat?! Did he do that to everybody, was it a nervous tick? What the hell?! But the old coot just laughed right back, almost kindly-sounding to Killua’s ears. “Ahh, quite the big ambition for someone starting out so late! Ehh, you get on down to your bunk then, we’ll be making port in Dolle Harbor and Zaban City beyond it sometime around midday tommorow. You two’ve got full run of the ship til then, so long as you don’t get in the way!”

Gon shouted out a beaming “Thank you!” Before turning and walking further into the ship, looking around at everything with an air of excitement Killua could feel tingling against his skin. Before he joined his friend, Killua turned to the old Captain, cocked his head to one side and spoke in a softer voice than before, so that Gon hopefully wouldn’t hear.

“You secured a good room for him like we agreed, yeah? I promised somebody that he’d be well taken care of here.” Killua made sure to give the Captain his most serious look, the one he reserved especially for those he felt he might need to muscle into keeping up their ends of agreements, but the old kook just laughed gruffly at him.

“Heh, ah sure did, sonny boy, ‘d be an idiot not to with the kinda Poke you were tossin’ around. But, uh, I think yer boyfriend over there isn’t gonna stick to yer plans, from what it looks.” He pointed a puffy finger over Killua’s shoulder, cutting off the embarrassed, huffy retort that had been building up in his chest since the Captain had said the B-word, and Killua looked back to catch just the briefest of glimpses of Gon as the buffer man ducked into the same crew hold Killua had been berthed in before.

Not saying another word to the Captain, Killua dashed off in pursuit of Gon as fast as he could, swinging into the hold seconds later- only to find that Gon had already managed to not only find the bunk right next to Killua’s, but was already done stowing away his bag below the bunk and was now busy fluffing up his pillow.

Killua stomped huffily towards Gon, growling towards him. “Oi, Gon, what’s the big idea? I was gonna show you where the Captain set up your room, how did you even find this place?!”

Gon turned towards him, frowning in confusion as he continued to fluff and puff his pillow until it was up to Gon’s satisfaction. “You didn’t have to show me around Killua, I can find my way pretty well you know. All I had to do was follow where Killua’s scent was, and here we are! It was nice of you to think of me though.”

Killua turned away before he could see Gon’s beaming grin, face hot yet again. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, puffed his cheeks out, annoyed. “Ugh, you’re so embarassing. How do you even know what my- ugh, my _scent_ smells like anyways, it’s not like we sl-” Killua stopped himself mid-sentance, realizing that what he was about to say was actually not true at all. He could feel Gon’s grin grow wider, and before any more ridiculousness could ensue, Killua stomped over to his own bunk and started putting his own things away.

The rest of the day passed quickly, Gon and Killua exploring what remained to be explored of the ship, watching the sea and the Pokemon they could pick out in the water and the sky, talking about whatever little things came to mind. When night rolled around and the two had gotten as comfortable as they could in the too-thin mattresses of their cots, through the darkness of the hold, Gon asked Killua a question, his voice soft and, for the first time that Killua could remember since meeting him the day before, incredibly vulnerable.

“Hey, Killua?” Gon sounded small, and in the bare non-light of the hold Killua could just make out the outline of the other boy’s features, staring up at the wood above them, not looking worried so much as he was full to the brim with uncertainty.

“What’s up, Gon?”

“Will you... I know we just met, and you’ve probably had a pretty awkward time since we did, back at the lake, but... will you travel with me? Once we reach Zaban city and meet with the Professor there, I mean.” He sounded so serious, Killua didn’t know what to say for a few moments. Gon had... really been thinking that much about this? Something in Killua’s chest felt flattered, but also incredibly nervous at the same time. People didn’t usually... care that much one way or the other when it came to Killua being around.

His face warm yet again, Killua turned onto his back, looking up at his own patch of ceiling. Hesitantly, he replied. “Well... I did promise Mito to watch out for you and stuff, and without me around you’d probably get lost in some alleyway the minute you set foot inside a proper city...”

“D-does that mean you will?” The sheer _hopefulness_ in Gon’s voice did something funny to Killua’s heart, and he felt the heat in his face redouble.

“Of course it does, dumbass... I probably wouldn’t be able to set a toe on that island again if I didn’t, anyways, so...” Killua tried not to sound too invested in his reply, not because he didn’t want Gon to think he cared, but mostly because if he didn’t he’d come off as creepy as he felt, being so attached and attracted to this weird wild boy so quickly.

He could feel that smile radiating off of the other boy as soon as the words left his mouth, however, and soon the reluctance and nervousness fell away to that comfortable, accepted feeling he kept getting around Gon. The other shuffled in his bunk softly, and after a few moments murmured back a soft, heartfelt, “Thank you, Killua.”

“N-no problem...” Silence fell between them for a few moments, and even though he knew he should fall asleep, Killua felt too knotted up inside to leave it on such an emotional note. “H-hey, Gon?”

“Hnm?" The other murmured sleepily back at him.

“What was that island called, anyways? The one you’re from?”

“What?.. You don’t even know the name of the island?”

Killua blushed, huffed. “The Captain guy said it when we landed but... I wasn’t really... paying attention I guess...”

Gon laughed softly, a kind, warm laugh, as if not caring made Killua even more special and cool. “Hehe, that’s just like Killua... it’s called Wailord Island, silly.”

He frowned, mouth twisted. “Wailord Island?”

“Yeah!”

“...what a weird-ass name..”

With that, and a few more chuckles from both sides, the two boys fell asleep, anticipation for what the next day would bring buzzing around them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it! The first hint of smut for this fic, and the beginnings of Gon and Killua's adventure into the world of Pokemon! What awaits them in Zaban City? Who is this AU's version of the Pokemon Professor? (guess go ahead guess I guarantee you're probably 100% right go on do it) Where the fuck is Kurapika and Leorio? Where the fuck is Hisoka? Why is Hisoka?
> 
> Find out the answers to some of these questions, and less, in the next chapter! 
> 
> [EDIT: Heya, Merry X-mas if you celebrate and Merry Winter Cold Nice Chilly Season if you don't! Just updating to say that for several reasons I'm pushing the next update back from 12/30/15 to 1/10/16. The reason for this is basically I've had several bursts of creative inspiration for where I want the upcoming arc of the fic to go, and between a holiday-sodden mind and a visit-from-the-significant-other-enfluffled heart, I'm not gonna be able to do said ideas justice without a bit more time to iron them out and write them properly. I'll see if I can make the next update another double-chapter one to make up for the delay, but rest assured that the extra 10 days will be very much worth it in terms of quality, plot-weaving, and even more sneaky Hisoka shenanigans. So have a fabulous rest of the holiday season, a very awesome new years, and see you on the 10th!]

**Author's Note:**

> YEAAAAAAAAAAAH HERE WE FRICKEN GO GRAB ONTO YOUR BUTTS AND THEN SQUEEZE EM A LIL THEN SORTA TRACE YOUR INITIALS IN EM YEAH TRACE YOUR INITIALS IN YOUR BUTT GO ON DO IT DO IT YOU F-
> 
> Okay that might not be the best way to start off notes, lemme try again.
> 
> Hiya! I've had the idea for this fic bubbling around in my head for a while now- basically a combination of two of the things that make me the happiest in life these days, and then sprinkled with a dusting of edge, thirst, goofy antics, and Hisoka. Always with the Hisoka. 
> 
> Several warnings before we continue: Now, admittedly I'm sort of placing a large, fiery Chekhov's gun in the room by saying this, but fuck Chekhov I'm saying it anyways; I have the makings for the entirety of this fic sketched out in my head and my notebook, and from what I'm thinking, it's a fairly chunky one, so with all luck this ride will putter forwards for a good while yet, knock on wood. Secondly, yes, this is my first published fic, no, this is not my first time riding the writing pony. That said, yeah, this is my first time publishing a long-term writing serial, so hiccups may ensue. If they do, I implore your understanding, and you can shout at me, rail against the gods, or slam your proverbial dick into my (maybe) proverbial anus here in the comments, here http://seventh-scribbling.tumblr.com/ (my writing tumblr) or here https://twitter.com/seventh_Tense (my as-of-yet sparsely used but hopefully soon-to-be HYPER USED twitter). 
> 
> Thirdly, I'm doing my ding-dang diddly darndest to keep as true to the canon of both HxH and Pokemon as humanly possible, as my overflowing collection of reference tabs would tell you, were you able to see them. Again, that said, with something this big and sprawling, anything can happen, and I am 100% okay with going back and editing for whatever if the need arises, so shout shout let it all out at me if the feeling takes hold of your giblets and don't let go.
> 
> Okay this is just getting silly now. I'm planning (there's that gun again, ooh you russian bastard stop putting that there) on updating this every week and a half or so, to allow for editing and any irl hiccups that may occur, and judging by my computer calendar that places the next update somewhere around 12/20ish, give or take a few days. Will every chapter be around 8k words? Probably not, but who knows, this may turn out into a monstrous, veined, pulsating hyper-cock of a fic faster than I can say jack jimminy: time, as always, will tell. And to ease your worries, when the time comes for sexy bits, I swear on my life, and the lives of many, many kittens that I will never use the phrase "monstrous, veined, pulsating hyper-cock" to describe anything, ever again. Wow.
> 
> And yes, the title is a ref to a Daft Punk song I really like. Didn't have much to do with the fic itself, (yet) but I needed a title, it was there in my music library, using song names is a tried and true ao3 trope, its my first published fanfic, -sue me- 
> 
> See y'all soon!


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